Wood for scales that is easy to work with?

SadSappySucker

SadSappySucker

Joined
Jul 20, 2014
Messages
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I've just stripped the coating off my esee 4 and would like to make some scales. Is there any wood that is particularly hard to work with or vice versa? I don't want to get in over my head since I've never made scales before.
Also, can you sand micarta? Ever since I removed the coating the scales are a tad big, and if possible I'd like to sand a bit off.
 
What woodworking equipment do you have? Oak is easy to work and is cheap. But some do not like it's coarse grain. Maple can be beautiful and you can buy small scraps of highly figured maple cheaply. Walnut is easy to work because it is soft, but that makes it easy to dent when in use.
 
I looked that knife up on line. You could buy scraps of wood at a woodworking store and cut them with a coping saw. Getting them to be the right thickness could be a pain unless you have power tools. Don't get offended- be careful not to hurt yourself with a new power tool. Even belt sanders can hurt, and saws can remove whole body parts.
 
No offense taken. I work in construction , so I've got saws, files, drills, sanding equipment. The only thing that I could think of being beneficial which I donxt have is a bench grinder.I was looking around and figured I'd buy some 1 1/2 x 5" slabs so I could eliminate as many variables as possible. I really like the look of the maple.Thanks for all the suggestions.
 
You don't really need power tools. A file will do much of what you need done.
 
SadSappySucker said:
I don't want to get in over my head since I've never made scales before.
Also, can you sand micarta? Ever since I removed the coating the scales are a tad big, and if possible I'd like to sand a bit off.
Click to expand...

It's pretty simple with the tools you have. Rough shaping is the easy part; the last bit you want to go slowly with hand files and sandpaper.
You can follow youtube videos but really whatever you imagine would work, probably will. Nothing complicated, just patience.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1209979-Making-wood-scales-for-Esee4

And yeah you can sand micarta, the dust is pretty bad for you though so wear a dust mask.
 
You can thickness sand your blanks by taping them to a 2x4 with double sided tape and then going at them with a belt sander. Rocklers and other woodworker's supply stores often sell smallish scraps of maple.
 
A rounded file gets into concave places but you can improvise with coarse sandpaper wrapped around a dowel.
 
SadSappySucker said:
Thanks all. I've seen people using a rounded file, is that necessary? All my files are flat.
Click to expand...

Flat is fine, I used a half circle file; flat on one side, round on the other.
Use the file until you have less than 2mm away from perfect thickness and do the rest with sandpaper.

Edit: this worked for me because I wanted to end up with a mostly round and smooth finish. If you want specific angles near the edges you'll have to be more careful about choosing cutting radii with your files.
The biggest thing I can think of for making it look good, use a drill press for your pins. You can see how mine came out rough because I had to try to countersink by hand without proper bits.

For reference, rough profile took me 1 or 2 days, fine profile and finishing took me 2-4 days. (Just a couple hours each day)
 
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