cracked scale- possible fixes?

[viral]

Hello all! First time poster here and putting my first set of scales on. So I bought a set of hickoryscales, shaped them (roughly) and attached them and started getting it fine tuned and close to the tang and noticed that there are matching cracks in the wood along the grain that at the butt (where it's the biggest) are about as thick as 2 pieces of paper. It runs about an inch and a half and most of it is just hair line. Now my question is if there is some finishing technique I could use to fill this crack and make it less noticeable. It's my first one so I'm not looking for perfection. Hopefully I'm not s.o.l. I am extra thankful for even reading this and I know if it's possible to patch up the knowledge is here! Thanks guys!

 

[thegeek574]

Please provide pictures. Try uploading them to a site like Photobucket and placing them in a post, or, alternately, send them to me and I will post them up. Send me an e-mail under my profile name.

 

[recon1s14]

Soak the scales in water (make it warm at first) for about a day to make them swell up, then dry them off with a hand towel, and soak them in linseed oil or any thin oil based coating for an afternoon, then dry them off and the crack should be nicely closed. Always works for me

Oh you may have to do a little more sanding but after this process you won't have any more cracks at all.

 

[Tom Lewis]

Depending on the situation, super glue can work good on small cracks.

 

[viral]

http://m1294.photobucket.com/albumview/albums/Joe_Schrum/IMAG0727.jpg.html?o=3&newest=1

 

[viral]

http://m1294.photobucket.com/albumview/albums/Joe_Schrum/IMAG0726.jpg.html?o=1 you should be able to go the the pictures before and after and see the pics. Thanks.

 

[recon1s14]

http://m1294.photobucket.com/albumview/albums/Joe_Schrum/IMAG0726.jpg.html?o=1 you should be able to go the the pictures before and after and see the pics. Thanks.

Oh man, I agree with TL sink some super glue in there and it will keep it from separating, and after you sand down all that excess wood you own't even notice it.

 

[Salem Straub]

One more vote for superglue. The thin stuff. Keep flooding the crack with it until no more wicks into it. Then wait a couple hours and finish your handle. Should be fine for a hairline crack.

 

[viral]

cool guys! thanks for the help! thats what i will be doing.

 

[Britt_Askew]

Soaking in water will hide the crack for a while but the crack will still be there and will open back up when the wood dries again.

 

[jtdesigns]

If you have multiple cracks that are still visible after CA glue you can etch/dremel following the crack then fill with a some tinted epoxy to make it a "design element". Or you could dremel out other areas and fill in to give a "veiny" look. I do this frequently with some of the pens I make using deer antler then carve lines, shapes, or sybols. I then take take some brass or fine silver flat bars and drill a whole bunch of holes; collect all those "drillings" or shavings. I then mix these small fragments with some black tinted epoxy and pack those areas that I dremeled out with this mixture. After curing, I turn it down on the lathe. When done, it yields some of coolest designs with a depth that is awesome. Just a thought.