For anyone else just starting on scales I thought I'd share my sanding jig 
I've got some really nice woods that came as "pen blanks" 20x20x150mm. I've cut a couple of slices off the Cocobolo (forgot to take pics at the earlier stages, so I'll take plenty on the next batch), but getting them down to a suitable and even thickness by hand was going to be a challenge!
A bit of searching, here and over at SRP, led to the inspiration for this design. Bearing in mind Bill's comments on my magnetic jig, I decided to go for the simplest (less elegant) solution!
The base is a piece of pine off-cut from my local B&Q (similar to Home Depot), the two metal strips came in a pack of 4 "125mm mending strips" from the next aisle, total cost £2.75
The strips are approximately 1.5mm thick, so you can either fix them doubled up to get 3mm scales, or singly as here. I tried an initial test sanding with a washer under each end to give 2mm thickness.
For the basic, rough sanding I've used my palm sander (which spans the gap nicely), starting at 60grit and working up to 100grit. For the finer work, I'm using a cork sanding block and wet and dry paper, currently up to 600grit but I've got 1000, 1500 and 2000 still to go
When using the electric sander, I can clamp the whole lot to my workbench. Later steps it can sit on a table or on my leg. I'll probably change the current strips to longer lengths so that I don't have to turn the wood as frequently.
As ever, comments and feedback are welcome
I've got some really nice woods that came as "pen blanks" 20x20x150mm. I've cut a couple of slices off the Cocobolo (forgot to take pics at the earlier stages, so I'll take plenty on the next batch), but getting them down to a suitable and even thickness by hand was going to be a challenge!
A bit of searching, here and over at SRP, led to the inspiration for this design. Bearing in mind Bill's comments on my magnetic jig, I decided to go for the simplest (less elegant) solution!
The base is a piece of pine off-cut from my local B&Q (similar to Home Depot), the two metal strips came in a pack of 4 "125mm mending strips" from the next aisle, total cost £2.75
The strips are approximately 1.5mm thick, so you can either fix them doubled up to get 3mm scales, or singly as here. I tried an initial test sanding with a washer under each end to give 2mm thickness.
For the basic, rough sanding I've used my palm sander (which spans the gap nicely), starting at 60grit and working up to 100grit. For the finer work, I'm using a cork sanding block and wet and dry paper, currently up to 600grit but I've got 1000, 1500 and 2000 still to go
When using the electric sander, I can clamp the whole lot to my workbench. Later steps it can sit on a table or on my leg. I'll probably change the current strips to longer lengths so that I don't have to turn the wood as frequently.
As ever, comments and feedback are welcome
