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scales sneak peak

John C

John C

I've been slowly restoring a Wade & Butcher for my first straight razor.
I've been playing with different ideas for the new scales, and finally came up with a design that I liked. So here is a sneak peek.

The scales will be out of a lightweight nickle, and will have a pierced top plate and solid bottom plate per scale. The W&B is a very heavy razor, so I'm fairly certain that the scales will balance nicely with the weight of the blade.

As I said the top plate will be pierced and the detail and shading work will be hand engraved. Black epoxy enamel will go in the background and emerald green will go into the leaves. Then the whole scale will be coated to help prevent oxidation and to protect blade wear against the scales.

I went with the tree of life motif from the Book of Kells. I thought that an old english manuscript would be fitting for a blade from Sheffield. :001_smile

If this project doesn't work out, I'll still have fun with the process. :w00t:

I'm already thinking towards my second set. Those will be more traditional wood scales with an overlay lacework of Visconti Vine and leaf patterns running down the scales in a *very* light 28 ga. nickle or sterling.

enjoy
 
John C

John C

mdunn said:
i cant wait!

please take lots of pics of the process!
Click to expand...

I feel a little odd about posting the process that I use, this being my first set of scales and all, but after thinking about it last night, why not. :w00t:

What I'm going to do is take a few pics as I go through each step and document how I am progressing, explaining each step along the way.

btw: should this thread be moved to the restoration list???

Step one: Print the pattern off to the correct size. Then I used a spray adhiesive to glue the pattern to a piece of 26 ga. nickle. I did not polish the nickle beforehand, just cleaned it off with some acetone.

Step two: used a small center punch to put a small dot in the background areas that I want to cut away

Step three: used a #74 drill bit to drill a starting hole in all of the negitive (background) spaces.

Step four: using an 8/0 blade, I start cutting away (piercing out) the background with a jewellers saw.

I'll be piercing out the background during my spare time later today in the studio.
I also included a pic of the Wade & Butcher blade that goes with this scale project. The origional blade had a front end spike that had a nasty crack and had to be removed. I know that this is not a typical end for a razor, but I wanted to save as much of the blade as possible, and it turned out kind of cool and different.

hope ya'll enjoy this
 
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Fnord5

Fnord5

That has got to be the most tedious thing ever to have to remove the saw blade and re-install it for every little hole!
Cannot wait to see the finished product!
 
John C

John C

Ok, I've gone about as far as I can today.
I've gotten one scale totally cut out.

step 5: I'm going to use the chasing hammer and home made chasing tools shown in the pic. to put in some base detail lines and to give me a guide for later on in the process when I get to the fine detail work with the hand engraving.

Chasing detail work for those not familiar involves striking the small chisel with the hammer to create a running line in the metal. No metal will be removed in this step, just a line hammered into the surface.

job #2 and family stuff will probably keep me away from the work bench till friday. I'll try to have some more done by then to post up.

hope ya'll are having as much fun as I am. :w00t:
 
John C

John C

OK, I snuck in a bit more time. :wink2:
Basic chase work is done.

Step 6: filing and sanding. This step will take a bit of time. The object here is to smooth out all the lines and imperfections from the piercing step. I'll use needle files and small pieces of 400 wet/dry. The sandpaper is cut in very small strips and inserted through the different openings in the top plate and sanded in an up and down motion.

going home now so I don't get in trouble. :001_tongu
 
John C

John C

Alacrity59 said:
This is wonderful. Do the pins go on the dots on the er clover?
Click to expand...

Yes, the pins will go in the berry clusters at each end of the design. There will also be two additional pins on the wedge. They are the two dots on the wedge end where I left the edging pattern clear so the rivits won't get in the way.
I will probably use a small washer on all pins so that if/when I decide to tear it down, the filling and removal of pins won't mar the design.

I'm going to be using brass for the pins, so I will probably use brass washers as well as a brass wedge to tie into the pins.

glad you guys seem to be enjoying the process. :001_smile
 
Samouraï

Samouraï

very cool scales, great work. i can't wait to see what it looks like with a blade between them. are you going to be coloring the metal (with fire or something, i don't know)?
 
John C

John C

Samouraï;1575122 said:
very cool scales, great work. i can't wait to see what it looks like with a blade between them. are you going to be coloring the metal (with fire or something, i don't know)?
Click to expand...

This is the top plate of the scale. It's quite thin at 24 gauge. When it's cleaned up I will solder it to a heaver piece of 20 gauge nickle. Once the whole scale is cleaned up then I will add black epoxy enamel in the background areas, and emerald green in the leaves.
This should give me a nice silver and glossy black look with green accents. I will finish it off with brass pins and a brass wedge.

Should turn out fairly decent when I'm done, if something doesn't happen along the way to jack them up. *grin* I've had projects in the past get upwards of 40 hours only to be cast into oblivion by the buffing wheel. *sigh*
 
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