Is there some unwritten rule that you can't use natural woods like cherry, mahogany etc. for scales?

woods?

To answer your question , I dont think so, fancy woods are nice to look at but if these are what you have available then I cant see why not, maybe Joe or Bill can set you a better answer as Im sure the people doing it more regularly than I have better answers.

I remember reading a post somewhere saying that sometimes woods need treating to get rid of moisture sometimes and some are spalted etc and to be wary after construction from warping...my scale making is amateur at best so Im sorry If my reply is not brilliant but you may find you will be fine, plus you need to start somewhere, because we all make mistakes,so to speak...

Have fun , simon

thanks Simon

The softer the wood gets, the more they become candidates for liners. When you get to the spalted woods, for sure you need liners.

Also, the softer woods are subjected to scarring too easily. Even fingernail scrapes leave a small permanent indented line behind. The woods you mentioned are ok to me as long as they have a protective coat of CA or polyurethane over them. Although cherry and mahogany make fine furniture pieces, I don't much care for them on knife or razor scales.

Stick to the dense woods with a little oil in them, like cocobolo and desert ironwood. All you need to do to these is sand to 1500 and polish.

I use a lot of stabilized stuff, myself. You can learn some stuff about stabilized wood here.

You can learn a TON of stuff about wood on this site. Do some reasearch there and come back to give us a few tips, yourself.
::mat

Thanks Bill I just never read anyone using it that why i asked. thanks again.

Woods

Thanks Bill for such a good explanation as i said my knowledge isnt very good when it comes to woods so I hope you didnt mind me dropping your name into my reply as I figure whether it be knifes or razors you would be able to help him out in a better way..

regards,simon

part of my problem is i live in a small apartment and can only cut the wood by hand. where can you get it @ 1/8" thick?

Hmm

well like you I lived in a small house and the guy next door to my mother was willing to help me out and as a bonus he had all the shop stuff i needed to do this......
Im not sure where you might find slabs that thick, maybe some of the other members can help you with this.

regards,simon

You could always buy something like this. A Japanese handsaw that has rip teeth on one edge and crosscut teeth on the other. Should make short work of cherry or most of the less exotic species. Not sure how it would hold up against some of the harder, denser ones like cocobolo or ironwood (it has that name for a reason!).

http://www.japanwoodworker.com/product.asp?s=JapanWoodworker&pf_id=19.605.0&dept_id=13088

Or, you could buy your cocobolo in 1/8" (or other) thickness here...

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?FamilyID=682&cs=5181

or here: http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=838

Woodcraft's been around for years though I've never purchased from them online. Don't know anything about Rockler.

Good luck. Pics please when you're finished!

Thanks this helps i forgot about the wood working sites.

I live in an apartment too..
What I do is, buy the wood from woodcrafter (their website will tell you where your nearest store is...), that is 1/8" thick x 3" wide and I think 24" long (MANY scales to be made from this).

Since I have no power tools (other than a drill and a dremel), I use a coping saw and a small swivel clamp to rough cut the shapes out. From there it's dremel and sand paper to the final deal!

Good luck and keep us posted!

C utz

i actually have a Rockler Store near me i just picked up some Bolivian Rosewood
and im waiting for the Blood wood to come in.

How would Maple work for scales?

Issy

Maples Scales

Joe Chandler restored a W&B wedge for me with maple scales.

HTH

VERY nice, I just found enough clear maple (2 old cabinet doors). Time to try my hand at it.

Issy

Nice to see ya, Issy - where ya been?!

I don't know much about scales per se, but there are certain woods that would be better suited for wet environments; ebony, spanish cedar, redwood, teak, etc. Other species might not last as long, unless they've been stabilized. Maple would fall into that category, as would most of the more common cabinet woods; walnut, cherry, oak and the like. You can buy stabilized wood in many species, including maple, though I'm not sure how costly it is. Apparently, it's not a good idea to "try this at home". Pressure is required - as is an affinity for toxic substances!

That said, I would think maple would make beautiful scales, especially if you could find some nicely figured tiger maple! Now THAT would be stunning!

I would do this in a heartbeat, sealed with oil, wax, poly, whatever.

I ordered some olive wood slabs from here. The order hasn't come in yet but I'll let ya know how it works out.

WOW, maple looks GREAT!

I won't have the need to make scales for a while, though. Today I scored - amongst other things - more than 50 NOS scales

You gotta post your haul!!! So are you going to have 50 razors with identical scales?

I'm in the process of photographing and posting it. And no, I don't have 50 identical ones. Stay tuned