I got a new band saw and the idea of making scales for a China shavette I bought for €4 at the flea market. The shavette itself is great, but the stainless steel scales always felt a bit too heavy while shaving, giving me less control. The wood is oak wood and cut from one piece, finished with linseed oil and carnauba wax. While at it, I also filed in a thumb grip. I already shaved with it and like the weight and grip much better now.
First attempt of making wood scales (one piece)
- Thread starter Extrawurst
- Start date
They look way better than the old ones, nice job.
Nice wood work, looks nicer than the original.
EclipseRedRing
I smell like a Christmas pudding
Excellent work!
- Thread starter
- #6
Thanks. Here's another attempt with fatwood. I have lots of it from a nearby pine forest and usually I just use it to make fire. Turns out it's also a nice material to make something from it. And it smells good 
I'm already thinking about a matching razor stand from it.
P.S: If someone wants to work with fatwood, put some oil on your tools / saw blade, otherwise the resin will stick to it like crazy when it gets hot. The resin also makes the fatwood water resistant, no oil treatment needed.
I'm already thinking about a matching razor stand from it.
P.S: If someone wants to work with fatwood, put some oil on your tools / saw blade, otherwise the resin will stick to it like crazy when it gets hot. The resin also makes the fatwood water resistant, no oil treatment needed.
That "Fatwood" looks like an amazing material! Almost translucent! And very well done I might add. Very nice.
Mr @Extrawurst : does that shavette use a whole DE blade?
Sorry for the stupid question, but have always wondered.
Sorry for the stupid question, but have always wondered.
- Thread starter
- #9
Thanks. It uses a DE blade you break or cut in half. You can also buy half blades
Thanks. I have one you have to cut in half, but loading it is stupid hard to do.
I love the translucency of the wood, something I have not seen in wood before.
rbscebu
Girls call me Makaluod
I also have a few of those high precision generic Chinese SS shavettes. One in each of my dop bags.
Most straight razors when opened 180deg have a balance point at or very near to the pivot pin. This includes my Chinese SS shavettes. By replacing the SS scales with wooden ones, I would expect that the razor's balance point has now moved noticeably towards the blade.
Does this adversely affect the handling of the razor in use?
Most straight razors when opened 180deg have a balance point at or very near to the pivot pin. This includes my Chinese SS shavettes. By replacing the SS scales with wooden ones, I would expect that the razor's balance point has now moved noticeably towards the blade.
Does this adversely affect the handling of the razor in use?
Is that “flatwood” from the heart of old fallen pine trees? Where I am from we call it “lighter-pine” as you can easily start large fires quickly with a single match due to all the concentrated pine rosins and terpenes. I’m not sure if this is the same thing or not, but if it is I wonder how this will hold up over time. I keep a box of this near my fireplaces and I notice when I have smaller chips for kindling they dry out and become just old grey pine wood chips. Also curious if you find that rosin seeping out on your razor or it getting gummy at the pivot. Anyway, sure looks cool as hell with that translucency and texture I must say.
- Thread starter
- #14
@rbscebu Yes, the balance point moved towards the blade without the heavy steel scales and I find it easier to control now.
- Thread starter
- #15
@LJS The fatwood is from fallen pine tree roots, I also use them to start BBQs or my fireplace. The greying is probably dependent on the amount of wood/resin it holds, I have fatwood that's more than 2 years old and doesn't show any significant change yet. I was rather surprised how stable the material turned out to be and don't expect it to wear out near the pivot anytime soon. But only time will tell. There are also different qualities of fatwood (or Kienspan where I live), other people might get different results.
Wow! Beautiful work! Both scales turned out nice. And thanks for describing the attributes of the different woods.
I will add that I have a plastic handled shavette. When I ordered it,I thought it was SS, but I ordered the wrong one. Now I think that the SS scales would be too heavy and I like how the plastic scaled shavette is balanced.
I will add that I have a plastic handled shavette. When I ordered it,I thought it was SS, but I ordered the wrong one. Now I think that the SS scales would be too heavy and I like how the plastic scaled shavette is balanced.
- Thread starter
- #17
@Vaporstrang I just put the remaining steel scales on a kitchen scale, it's 35 grams or 1,23 oz. That's quite some extra weight to handle. I also think that the plastic scales are better, never had any issues with mine. I just replaced them for the looks.
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