A new project...

[PhilB]

In the mean time, I only have enough horn blanks for one set of scales at best.

At least one of the Canadian knife supply companies I landed upon online has all these new composite things or blends of wood and resin. Dymalux, CrazyFibre, etc.

Might be worth doing more research on those. Either that, or stick to horn and source more of that. There's also tons of different species of cool wood here in the PNW.

 

[PhilB]

Some progress on the scales...

Everything is taking 10 times the time it should, since it's my first set. So, do a little, double check, start again, etc.

The crappy jeweler's saw already broke (screw broke off), but I managed to get all my cuts done first (after going through many blades). I'm almost thinking my jigsaw would have worked better. Will experiment with some off-cuts.

Not finished yet. Still some nicks and scuffs I want to sand out... And the biggest part: they have to be about half that thickness each.

I may buy a small bench/disc sander. They're cheap. Bandsaw would probably help too!

Also, no one prepared me for the smell of grinding/sanding buffalo horn. Glad to have a respirator!

 

[PhilB]

I apologize for the thread necromancy. I finally acquired a belt/disc sander, so I could finish this up without days of manual sanding just to thin the scales down.

Here's the final product, just before final sharpen (my kitchen knives were not as sharp as I'd like. I broke out the sharpening kit this morning and remembered I had to do this. So now I've finished it so it can get in the rotation.)

Is this perfect? Not even close. Are there a gazillion things I'll do better next time? Of course (and way faster, too.) Did I learn a lot? I sure did! This will be my first straight to shave with at all, so it'll be my first daily while I decide which one from the list to do next.

Thanks for all the help, folks.