How do I sand this scale flat?

I sent several pair of scales for stabilizing and got them back a few days ago. One set came back with one of the scales seriously warped. In all fairness to the company, which won't be named, the scales weren't perfectly flat when I sent them, but I wouldn't have sent this pair if they were this far out of flat. The processor did have to dry the wood a bit more, so that may have been when any existing warp was made worse.

Regardless, I need advice about how to recover what I can from the badly warped scale. Do I sand the convex side, the concave side, or a little of both? To get a flatter scale, it's going to end up thinner regardless, correct? While this set started out as a nicely bookmatched pair, I'm not hung up on that and worse case is that I just match up the one flat scale here with another piece that's close in appearance and abandon the warped scale.

What's your suggestion?

I would sand whichever side will be against the tang. You may need to put more pressure to one end or the other to get it to flatten with as little waste as possible. I wouldn't worry about the other side until after I had it glued to the blade. One caution, when having to grind very much on a scale, the heat from grinding may cause the scale to warp more. I would grind until it's close to being cleaned up, let it cool, then finish. If the scales end up too thin, you can always add a liner to make the thickness of the handle to what you want it.

Sending scales to have stabilized is not a good idea, you want to send as blocks, then cut into scales after you get them back. I have had blocks come back from stabilizing that are warped more than your scales. The thinner the piece is, the more prone to warping it is. Hope this helps!

I might try misting them with water lightly, putting a shim (brass rod, pennies, nails etc) or two in the center, clamp them to counter bend and put them in the oven at 90 to 100 degrees for a few hours. Then leave them clamped and forget about them for a month or two and see how they look.

Just for future reference..... typically the reason woods warp like that when stabilized, is because the moisture level was too high going into the stabilizing process. (need to let the wood dry more)

Gene Kimmi said:

Sending scales to have stabilized is not a good idea, you want to send as blocks, then cut into scales after you get them back. I have had blocks come back from stabilizing that are warped more than your scales. The thinner the piece is, the more prone to warping it is. Hope this helps!

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This. (For future reference of course.) And what Ed says about moisture is true, but you will never be able to get to zero % moisture.
Also, we need to remember that wood is an organic structure, with varying cell sizes, and some sections (especially with spalting like you have) are going to be more dense than others, and what this means is that the different densities will absorb different amounts of the resin and move differently during the curing process.
I send hundreds of maple blocks every year to get stabilized and I'd say about half of them come back with some warping, and these are usually the spalted pieces.

Go look up steam bending wood on the internet, am sure you can straighten it in that manner, I have used it in the past with success, and you will be able to keep your thickness. Deane

Looks like you've got a couple good options from the guys above. Not to hijack the thread, but I've got some maple that I'd like to send out to be stabilized and I was thinking I would send it to k and g. Anything I should know about the process? Thanks.

Alden Cole said:

Anything I should know about the process? Thanks.

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To minimize warping, try to get them as dry as you can. But being that this is the wet time in the PNW, I'd let them know that they might not be as dry as they can be. I think they check and will do this anyway, but I always like to make sure.
You'll need to mark each block to identify them as yours, I use a liquid paper pen to put my initials on the ends of mine. I think you'll have to print off a disclaimer and send it in with your blocks (I did mine about 6 years ago).
They should have all the info you need on their website.

Gene Kimmi said:

I would sand whichever side will be against the tang. You may need to put more pressure to one end or the other to get it to flatten with as little waste as possible. I wouldn't worry about the other side until after I had it glued to the blade. One caution, when having to grind very much on a scale, the heat from grinding may cause the scale to warp more. I would grind until it's close to being cleaned up, let it cool, then finish. If the scales end up too thin, you can always add a liner to make the thickness of the handle to what you want it.

Sending scales to have stabilized is not a good idea, you want to send as blocks, then cut into scales after you get them back. I have had blocks come back from stabilizing that are warped more than your scales. The thinner the piece is, the more prone to warping it is. Hope this helps!

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Thanks for the suggestions, Gene, especially the reminder that I can easily get some of my width back with a liner. I frequently use either a black or dark brown liner with spalted maple like this anyway. Makes sense that a block would be less likely to warp than an individual scale.

billyO said:

This. (For future reference of course.) And what Ed says about moisture is true, but you will never be able to get to zero % moisture.
Also, we need to remember that wood is an organic structure, with varying cell sizes, and some sections (especially with spalting like you have) are going to be more dense than others, and what this means is that the different densities will absorb different amounts of the resin and move differently during the curing process.
I send hundreds of maple blocks every year to get stabilized and I'd say about half of them come back with some warping, and these are usually the spalted pieces.

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Thanks to Billy and Ed, I really appreciate the info. It never occurred to me that different parts of the wood might take up resin at different rates, and I can certainly see how that might cause warping. I'll remember this advice and only send blocks in the future.

KentuckyFisherman said:

Thanks to Billy and Ed, I really appreciate the info. It never occurred to me that different parts of the wood might take up resin at different rates, and I can certainly see how that might cause warping. I'll remember this advice and only send blocks in the future.

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Who did the stabilization for you? What was the cost?