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Favorite Scales

I'm looking at all the beautiful razors that B&B members have restored and it got me to thinking. What are your favorite scales to make, and where did you acquire the material. Have you made your own bolsters and shields? As always, pics are welcomed (before and after)! Tips and tricks are welcomed also.
 
Horn scales that are "wade and butcher" shaped

Or my Ali's blade

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The blade has a definite dragon look when it's closed up in those scales!

Thanks.. I bought the Ali's blade western kamisori here from a member then added scales... It wasn't easy but when I first saw the blade I knew the basic direction I wanted to go with it...
 
After making a few hundred of the W&Bs they are still my favorite overall style but I like these because they were just fun. There are more but this rounds it out nicely. And I like them because they are unique.
Some carved ivory, pink ivory with ivory insert, carved Samurai sword scales, carved and inlaid Ebony, acrylic, wood with acrylic and MOP inlays.
 

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also has a matching shifter in aluminum.
 

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This seems very ordinary after mycarver's post but these are my favourite to date as it took three attempts before I learned a few tricks for ensuring they don't break.

Buck eye burl with Wenge veneer liners.
 
Nice work, Rob! Is the burl bookmatched? What tips and tricks did you use?

Not bookmatched - I didn't have a big enough piece for that. The problem with any burl is that once you start thinning to the size required for scales there is no linear strength - so I was advised to use veneer liners - in particular wenge has excellent grain and strength so you lay it longways on the scale. The other thing I did was to get the original wood properly stabilised with resin - this is quite a lond process including the initial drying. It doubled in weight which was good otherwise the balance with this big W&B would have been off.
 
Here's an old razor of mine now sold on, but I must say I always thought this was the best piece of burl that I've seen on any razor.

 
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