scales

[novembeRain]

Got a new knife in mind, possibly a pair and the cogs are whiring;

Wouldn't it be nice to go fetch the wood for the scales from the woods and turn tree / branch into scales!?

Firstly, I don't know much about this - seasoning etc. I know a lot of the standing wood seems well seasoned, it's hard and dry but I need to watch out for woodworm holes.

I think wood from a wrist thick (ish) stave would have a nice grain for this job (as it's tight together) and was thinking maybe birch would be nice - is it? and would I be right about the grain?

Apart from the obvious cutting and sanding, what else would I need to do? I could find a bit that was pretty dry and hard, then what?

 

[Toddy]

Woodturners sometimes use stuff called PEG (polyethylglycol) to stablise green wood. It's not that expensive and only takes a couple of weeks to work.
I think it's probably worth the bother since it'll stop your scales warping when they dry out thoroughly.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[NatG]

find thew wood you want, cut it and shape it itno rough blocks/scales


and then leave it for a year or 18 months.

by that time it should have become pretty dimensionally stable and you can plane the blocks/scales to final size and use them

 

[novembeRain]

find thew wood you want, cut it and shape it itno rough blocks/scales


and then leave it for a year or 18 months.

by that time it should have become pretty dimensionally stable and you can plane the blocks/scales to final size and use them

Isn't that for "green wood" though Nat?

 

[C_Claycomb]

As a novelty, by all means give it a go, but I don't reckon it would be worth trying to make a habit out of doing this.

There are a number of reasons why I don't think this is a good idea.

1) The material cost of nice, well seasoned, well figured, well selected wood scales, next to the time and effort required to make a whole knife is an almost insignificant factor.

2) Wood from a tree as small as wrist thick will in most cases be all sapwood (if it is of a type that has heartwood), have little figure, and once split down to avoid the pith will give you less scope for how you cut your handle.

3) Wood shrinks in the direction of its rings. The best handles, for stability, have the rings running almost perpendicular to the tang, straight through the slab. If the slabs are cut with the rings parallel to the tang, the natural change of size of even seasoned wood will mean that a ridge will be felt at the tang joint. With small tree split slabs, you have the rings running perpendicular and parallel and I would expect that unless properly stabilized this would almost ensure that the handle would move after you finished the knife. I could well be wrong on this last one, but I have had even multi-year old seasoned rosewood shift after I have put it on a handle.

Harvesting your own wood is another matter. I have yew, redwood, osage, box, and cherry that I have sourced myself, but all came from pruning of large trees, or felling and all needed years of seasoning.

 

[stanley lake]

Hi i usually souse my wood scales from a chap in America it seams cheaper for me to do it that way.but there are a lot of other places to get a hold of some nice timber for free Ive just posted a nessnuck knife on a thread with wood i picked up from my local beach birch elm i think? the wood is stable also Ive treated it with two cotes off supper glue and two cotes off clear varnish now its rock hard take a look .you will be surprised what you will find when you start looking

 

[jojo]

This Swedish man shows how to make a bush knife. He seems to be using dead wood, straight in the woods, and turns it straight into a knife handle and sheath. As long as you use standing dead wood, and you choose carefully,you should be able to use the wood. It would be dry, but in equilibrium with the humidity of the area where you find it. I'd say you would need to split it, to be a bit thicker than the scales you want, and longer than the scales you want. Take the lot inside for the humidity of the wood to equalize with the humidity in your home ie to dry further. It should be dry enough after a week or so, so you can make your scales. It may still shrink a bit more after that. A couple of times, I have had bought seasoned wood (so called kiln dried) that has shrank sufficiently after the handles was made to force me to re-file the pins a bit.

I'd say go for it. The worse that can happen would be that the wood shrinks enough to warrant the removing of the scales completely and redo it.

 

[NatG]

p.s. stanley lake- there's no need to import wood from the states- if nothing else think of the carbon footprint!

there's a few good dealersin the uk- i've had great service from jean Turner- jeannius61 as she is on BB. If you're interested i'll send you her email address

 

[dwardo]

This Swedish man shows how to make a bush knife. He seems to be using dead wood, straight in the woods, and turns it straight into a knife handle and sheath. As long as you use standing dead wood, and you choose carefully,you should be able to use the wood. It would be dry, but in equilibrium with the humidity of the area where you find it. I'd say you would need to split it, to be a bit thicker than the scales you want, and longer than the scales you want. Take the lot inside for the humidity of the wood to equalize with the humidity in your home ie to dry further. It should be dry enough after a week or so, so you can make your scales. It may still shrink a bit more after that. A couple of times, I have had bought seasoned wood (so called kiln dried) that has shrank sufficiently after the handles was made to force me to re-file the pins a bit.

I'd say go for it. The worse that can happen would be that the wood shrinks enough to warrant the removing of the scales completely and redo it.

I agree, the RH of wood can fall fast enough to be dry in a few weeks if the wood is taken down to "near" aproximate scale sizes and stored in the house. There is a downside to drying wood this quick as it can check or crack so do a few bits and if some fail then

Some woods are awful to dry quick due to their high water content and some are nay bother, you can only try, doesnt cost you awt besides a little time and its fun to play

 

[novembeRain]

hmm, a few good points, I'll have to look into what wood I'd like to use and what I can source for a start.

I know for sure that I can get birch, ash, pine and oak easily enough (though oak would be pointless as I've got some planks of it).

I just thought with birch being the "bushcraft tree" it would be nice, and to look at the finished knife and think "I literally made EVERYTHING" would also be a bonus.

in some ways I'd like something decorative like wallnut or that zebra-wood, I also liked the oak I used on wicca's knife.

I'll keep you posted anyway, thanks peeps.

 

[stanley lake]

p.s. stanley lake- there's no need to import wood from the states- if nothing else think of the carbon footprint!

there's a few good dealersin the UK- I've had great service from jean Turner- jeannius61 as she is on BB. If you're interested i'll send you her email address

Hi NatG thanks for your concerns over my carbon foot print hows yours.this is why all my lights are low energy and my heating is only on 2 radiators and terned right down. i would thinks quit a lot of bush craft material is imported from around the planet in one way or another. the reason i by my wood scales from the states is i get a better deal from there and exerlant knife scales Ive just received 10 pairs of exotic scales for around £24 pounds that's including the shipping costs from America Ive just posted another knife on edged tools with maple burl scales from this chap in this country thay would probably cost me around £10 on there own anyway thanks for your interest

stanley

 

[novembeRain]

well, I've got me a bit of birch to play with and hit a snag already!

When I got home, I realised it's got woodworm holes in it - doh! I'll still have a play though and if it's only 1or2 per scale I'll make use of it and fill the holes with something. - Just hope the woodworm are gone, I wouldn't be too popular if little holes started appearing in furniture!

it's abour 5" dia and about 6" long, grain looks nice sofar.

 

[dwardo]

well, I've got me a bit of birch to play with and hit a snag already!

When I got home, I realised it's got woodworm holes in it - doh! I'll still have a play though and if it's only 1or2 per scale I'll make use of it and fill the holes with something. - Just hope the woodworm are gone, I wouldn't be too popular if little holes started appearing in furniture!

it's abour 5" dia and about 6" long, grain looks nice sofar.

Cool, the wood worm will just add character I would fill the holes with sawdust and superglue. You could allways use some brass dust or glow in the dark powder and superglue. If there is a wood worm then you may want to bake the wood in the oven to kill off any bugs left in there. Good luck

 

[jojo]

Cool, the wood worm will just add character I would fill the holes with sawdust and superglue. You could allways use some brass dust or glow in the dark powder and superglue. If there is a wood worm then you may want to bake the wood in the oven to kill off any bugs left in there. Good luck

Would be cool to keep the bugs in the wood though: in the middle of the night, you could listen to the bugs gnawing your knife handle..... Who needs TV!

 

[novembeRain]

Would be cool to keep the bugs in the wood though: in the middle of the night, you could listen to the bugs gnawing your knife handle..... Who needs TV!

After the effort of shaping a knife handle just how I want it!? I'd be getting out of my hammock and baking the handle over the fire