Minimum Material Length for Scales

Title pretty much sums it up.

In your experience, what is the minimum length of material that can be used to produce a set of scales?

I can order the blade I'm looking at in a shorter length (Koraat), but I'm trying to see if maybe I can get away with 5" by 2.25" material (2 blocks).

Thanks

Also, since we all like photos:

If you're looking to order a shorter blade then that will determine the stock you need. I don't know any of the spec's of your blade so you'll have to figure that out.
Otherwise 6" is generally the shortest I'll use for scales on most full size razors and in some larger blades 6 1/4 -6 1/2 is better .

mycarver said:

If you're looking to order a shorter blade then that will determine the stock you need. I don't know any of the spec's of your blade so you'll have to figure that out.
Otherwise 6" is generally the shortest I'll use for scales on most full size razors and in some larger blades 6 1/4 -6 1/2 is better .

Click to expand...

Thanks [MENTION=28057]mycarver[/MENTION], currently awaiting pin to tip length, which should determine if I have to order a shorter razor or find some longer material.

Hmmm, not sure I'd want to shorten the blade length by 3/4 inch to make this work.

Yeah that would be pretty radical just for the sake of some scale material.

New question for everyone then, any references for people dyeing and stabilizing burl wood in lengths sufficient for scales?

For a 3 inch blade you will likely need 6 inches for the length.

For a 5 x 2.5 you are going to get 5.59 length on the diagonal, likely not enough since you need to account for the width of the scales and not just a straight line corner to corner.

Also, keep in mind a lot of these burl tend to fall apart in the burls are you thin the scales.

Good point Doc.

I did contact the manufacturer of the dyed burl and he does custom orders, so I'm going to see what a 6.5" length will cost me. I'll be leaving the scales a bit thicker than normal (probably 1/8") to account for any structural weakness. In addition to the light weight from being stabilized, The scales will be rounded to reduce the weight a bit further.

Blade will be a Koraat 8/8 full hollow. I'm looking forward to this, but it will probably be a couple months out, since I'm changing residence this month.

That sounds like a better resolution! Let us see what you eventually come up with and best of luck with the new home.

Well, everything is ordered. Hoping that the burl inclusions don't end up being difficult.

I'm really looking forward to a heavy (koraat) full hollow with belly for some reason. It's a weird combo of a full hollow with the stiffness and likely weight of something closer to a normal (not Koraat) half hollow I'm guessing.