First attempt- wood/resin scale.

Mark Barone

Mark Barone

Well-Known Member
I have seen some beautiful worthless wood and resin scales. I never even heard of the term "worthless wood"before that. The problem is if you don't have access to worthless wood, it's expensive. Go figure! Anyway I decided to get a piece of zebra wood and create a worthless wood/ live edge feel to it and cast resin with it. I am not particularly happy with my first try. I had a two tone resin thing going on, but the green and blue blended in the drying process. I also don't have a vacuum chamber and used a blow dryer to remove bubbles. It seemed to work. Now I just have to make another knife. IMG_3229.jpg
 
Looks like you did a good job there. I'm not really a fan of zebra wood but those will look great on the right blade.
 
Von Gruff said:
Care to detail the process RG
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Sure, I took a block of wood and cut it out on the bandsaw in a random pattern you see below. I then took a dremel with a tiny boring bit and hacked into the block and bored "insect holes" down into it. I don't have a mold yet so I improvised with some thin plywood and duct tape. I basically just built a scale size box around the piece of wood. I didn't take a picture. I mix 50/50 resin and hardener and color it with Pearl ex. It just takes a smidge to color it. I poured the resin into the mold in 1/8 inch layers. I used the hot setting on a blow dryer to get rid of the bubbles and then repeated. This however moved the resin in waves and ruined the blue resin highlights I mixed into it. I will get a vacuum chamber if I feel I might want to continue this hobby. It took about 24 hours to dry. The block was only 3/4 inch thick so I only got one pair of scales. The molds are usually 2 x 2 x 5.
 

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Thanks RG . it was the resin type that I wondered about. Is it like a polyester resin as the one I have here (norski) says it is not compatible with epoxy products and has an unequal mixing ratio of about 50-1. I bought it when I wanted to try making paper micarta but ended up using the west systems epoxy instead. We you say it takes 24 hrs to dry that would preclude either of these products
 
Von Gruff said:
Thanks RG . it was the resin type that I wondered about. Is it like a polyester resin as the one I have here (norski) says it is not compatible with epoxy products and has an unequal mixing ratio of about 50-1. I bought it when I wanted to try making paper micarta but ended up using the west systems epoxy instead. We you say it takes 24 hrs to dry that would preclude either of these products
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Yes Gruff, it's an Epoxy Resin, I have a picture above. It may dry quicker than 24 hours, but I wanted to make sure it was solid through out before I cut. I just googled South Otago images. Beautiful!!! Although I couldn't find it on the map.
 
So the west systems I use for my scale epoxy would work then. I see them using a pressure pot with mention of 20 lb pressure right up to 50lb. I will just have to get some of the perl X to colour it.
I am in Lawrence, South Otago RG with Dunedin being the closest City(an hour East)


South Otago 3.pngSouth Otago.pngLawrence.png
 
Great post, thanks....I have loads of burls I need to use up which have stabilised and this method will be great.
 
Daniel Macina said:
@Retroguy have you done any test on the finished product to see how strong it is?
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Nothing scientific Dan, I just grabbed the resin side with my left and the wood with my right hand and tried to break it apart. I think the jagged design really helps. Funny you asked though. I made another scale with two pieces of different contrasting species separated by a knife spacer. That thing fell apart as soon as I breathed on it.
 
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