Maybe I should have put this in my thread about pins, but anyway, where do you scale makers purchase your materials? I was thinking of making scales from wood, though I'm unsure where to buy high quality wood. Would Home Depot's lumber section sell something usable? I am unsure of what kinds of wood would even be ideal. I've also seen scales made of acrylic - where do you buy that? Any insight on this stuff would be appreciated. If anyone has a link to another thread with more info or can put their two cents in here that would be awesome! Thanks!
Making scales - where to buy material?
- Thread starter blackhhawk
- Start date
Slash McCoy
I freehand dog rockets
One source for acrylic is clipboards.
Plexiglass works and you can get it in many colors too. A dark smoke color looks nice.
on ebay if you search for "straight razor scales" you will find lots of guys selling bookmatched pairs of various types of wood. You can go to your local hobby shop and find 1/8" walnut or ebony. Saw up some maple or something.
At Home Depot I recently picked up some 1/8" x 1" aluminum bar stock and also a small piece of clear lexan I think .093" thick.
You can make a mold and pour polyester resin in it. You can wet canvas with resin and press several layers together in a vise for micarta scales. A poured scale can have pigment or glitter mixed in, or a small coin or something in the pour. Or whatever you like.
Plexiglass works and you can get it in many colors too. A dark smoke color looks nice.
on ebay if you search for "straight razor scales" you will find lots of guys selling bookmatched pairs of various types of wood. You can go to your local hobby shop and find 1/8" walnut or ebony. Saw up some maple or something.
At Home Depot I recently picked up some 1/8" x 1" aluminum bar stock and also a small piece of clear lexan I think .093" thick.
You can make a mold and pour polyester resin in it. You can wet canvas with resin and press several layers together in a vise for micarta scales. A poured scale can have pigment or glitter mixed in, or a small coin or something in the pour. Or whatever you like.
You might be able to buy 3mm acrylic off-cuts from you local sign maker.
You can win some for free here.
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/270289-Scale-blanks-and-freebie
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/270289-Scale-blanks-and-freebie
You can get some perspex (plexiglass) off ebay, if everything else fails.
I order quite a bit from here:
http://www.mcmaster.com/#
Good prices, ships cheap and quick. Pretty fair selection of colors. They also have some G10, carbon fiber and other materials available.
http://www.mcmaster.com/#
Good prices, ships cheap and quick. Pretty fair selection of colors. They also have some G10, carbon fiber and other materials available.
- Thread starter
- #8
Can carbon fiber be cut/sanded like wood? Carbon fiber scales would be awesome...
Yes it can, I only made one set quite a while ago and I remember it being relatively hard to work with but not terrible.
Home depot has some acrylic panels that are a coupla bucks.
Where do they keep them? I checked a couple of hardware stores when I started making scales and only found some clear acrylic at Ace Hardware.
- Thread starter
- #12
Thanks for the help guys. I'm still a bit confused as to what to buy from these websites but I'm sure I can figure it out when I get more time to look.
I really want to make scales from wood as I know I would be capable of doing so. I'm not sure what kind of wood to look for.
Can you guys post links to actual items you've purchased for scales so I can get an idea of where to start?
I really want to make scales from wood as I know I would be capable of doing so. I'm not sure what kind of wood to look for.
Can you guys post links to actual items you've purchased for scales so I can get an idea of where to start?
Sure, here is a link to the spot on McMaster-Carr:
http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-plastic-sheets/=nwrh6c
I buy both the colored (these are opaque) and the fluorescent sheets (these are transparent), in 1/8 or 3/32. You can get a lot of scales from a 12x12 sheet. Order a few and then you have some scale/wedge color options too.
Carbon fiber:
http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-plastic-sheets/=nwrjbr
- Thread starter
- #14
Right as you posted this, I found what I was looking for. Thanks! I also found rods and washers, which I can use for pinning. Do all razors use 1/16 rod and size 00 washers?
As far as wood scales go, I like Woodcraft but that may be because there is one near me. I'm sure there are plenty of places to buy online, I know Ebay has quite a bit for sale.
They have a nice selection of thin stock lumber:
http://www.woodcraft.com/Catalog/CategoryPage.aspx?id=1002239&&Thickness=1/8%22&Length=24%22
They have a nice selection of thin stock lumber:
http://www.woodcraft.com/Catalog/CategoryPage.aspx?id=1002239&&Thickness=1/8%22&Length=24%22
- Thread starter
- #16
Wow, thanks!
That's what I use, I get the washers here:
https://www.microfasteners.com/washers-flat-washers-stainless.html
I like the FWS00 and the FWSS0 for stacking...I usually have to file the tip of my 1/16 rod a little and sand the whole thing down a little to get the small ones to fit, the inner diameter is pretty tight.
clear works fine, might not be what you want though.
Home Depot had them in the aisle where the door hardware is.
The sell plastic clipboards too. Just cut them up.
Ahhh okay. Probably walked past it a million times.
Funny thing is - the one up on Hamilton had that stuff, the one off the Belt Pkwy did not.
I'm guessing it's not a regular item everywhere. I found it accidentally.
Sign shops are a better bet I think.
I'm guessing it's not a regular item everywhere. I found it accidentally.
Sign shops are a better bet I think.
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