Building some scales

[mycarver]

Recently I've been working on restoring my Drew 7 day boxed set of Ivories. Two of the scales were cracked so I'm duplicating new ones and will break down the others to polish them up and then restore the box.
Since I bought extra stock of Ivory I started playing with it to see just what can be done with it. This is how I built the scales for the Jos. Elliot "Chinese Razor" I recently posted in the Gallery.\
Here is the starting point of my Ivory journey. Same as making most any other scale. Easy Peasy and it's been covered before so it's nothing new here. No, the box hasn't been restored at this point so it's a bit of a mess as you can see. I'll fix it.
Cool shape on that blade though!

 

[mycarver]

Now the fun started.
I began by doodling a design with no particular razor in mind. I was planning on trashing a piece of stock just as a learning tool to see how it worked. Well as I went along I started seeing it take shape and thought I could pull it off.

Once I had the design on paper I used basic carbon paper to transfer my design to the Ivory stock. Being that the lines were too fat and being carbon which would easily rub off I used a tungsten scribe to scratch the design in place and went over the scratch with a Sharpie basically doing a scrimshaw design. I sanded off the carbon and was left with a very fine line to follow.
I kept the stock full ( didn't cut the profile until near the end) and drilled holes where the design would be cut out in the center areas. Now the usual case is to use a fine blade in a coping saw to open up the design but I figured with it being so small I'd just use some small burrs and hog it out.
What I use to spin the burrs is a high tech version of a Dremel. I have two , basically dental tools, computer controlled for constant torque regardless of load made by NSK. I also have a Ram but it isn't nearly so high tech and much cheaper at around $400.00
The burrs are essentially dental type bits ( I have gotten some from my dentist as well ) and diamond cutters along with my work a day skew chisels i use for my regular carving.

 

[mycarver]

Once I had the one scale roughed in I went ahead and drew out , hogged out and started carving the second one. The majority of the "carving" was done with diamond cutters. Ivory can be carved but trust me,, it's a bit of a bugger and I now have the most respect for those who did it by hand in the past. Unfortunately I don't have endless time to play but fortunately I have technology on my side.

Here you can see , probably out of sequence, some of the stages of building these scales. I also have a pic of the burrs next to a .5mm pencil point so you can see the size, and skew chisels next to a regular pencil point.

 

[mycarver]

And of course the final results which you might have seen.

 

[mycarver]

And the other side. The wedge is Black Horn with brass liners. Those aren't ripples on the end, they're reflections of my lights.

 

[sarimento1]

Quite a piece of art!

 

[kontinu1]

That is insane! Awesome and extremely skilled work!!!

 

[silver]

Me likey . Beautiful work

 

[pmaster]

Thank you for the inside view of how you build your masterpieces!

 

[alpster]

It's an amazing gift you have. Beautiful work!

 

[conroygc]

Wow. You are very talented. Those scales look amazing, and real ivory too.

 

[whavens]

I know everyone else is thinking it, so I will just go ahead and say it. We all hate you!!! How can you do such beautiful, detailed work? I assume you know I am kidding. That is, without a doubt, the most incredible restoration I have seen to date. Thank you for showing us the step by step process. How does she shave?

 

[TheIronMantis]

Very nice!

 

[mycarver]

Ha! you guys crack me up. But thanks for the "kind" words.
I'm only baiting the hook but wait for the one I'm working on right now. It'll put this to shame. I snagged a Japanese frameback and I'm doing a set of Ivories for it as well. Delicate, intricate and I think Oh So Cool.
We'll see what you think.

 

[AndroiDad75]

Wow, that is an absolute beauty!!! I wish I was creative enough to do something like that. I'm not even sure I am creative enough to do the normal kind of scales.

 

[mycarver]

Hey, we all started somewhere! Take what you got and run with it.youll be amazed what you can make with a few tools.

 

[Heespharm]

Hey, we all started somewhere! Take what you got and run with it.youll be amazed what you can make with a few tools.

I dunno I have all the same tools... Don't think I could create such a masterpiece... Thanks for the pics... Visually stunning

 

[mycarver]

Start with something simple. Give it a shot. It's a learning curve that can be overcome. You'll learn a lot, mistakes and all that will add to your bag of tricks.
And as we all know we learn the most from our mistakes so don't be afraid to try something.

 

[Obiwan]

One man should not possess this much talent Mark. Phenomenal, just phenomenal.

 

[mycarver]

Thank you David! But in all honesty wait for the next ones I'm working on as we speak. I think they are killer. I believe I have this carving Ivory thing well on its way. Micro carving ( compared to this piece ) and oh so delicate looking but cool!Now I can consider all sorts of designs . Celtic knots , geometrics, well, whatever I ( or anyone else) can dream up.
Been playing with scrimshaw as well. Might even blend the two for good visual effect !
Yee Haw I'm hooked on this stuff !