# Scales for my Flynt Knives



## Kevin (Apr 20, 2014)

I had decided not to try and scale these awesome knives until I had clad a few practice knives first, and as luck would have it - good luck this time - I have found a local knife maker. Well, local enough he's 2 towns over. I called him and schedules permitting he's going to allow me to work in his shop with him a couple times a month as an apprentice. I AM STOKED!!! I didn't want to risk scrwing up a knife the quality of which I would never had the opportunity to own had Robert not agreed to such a lopsided (IMO) trade. I am still sending him wood for scales when he let's me but then he send me a box of LO burl just for grins - he's a hard man to trade with he keeps upping the score lol.

So it's not going to be a quick process but hopefully I can start to learn a little about this awesome craft. I have tentatively decided to scale these gorgeous knives with DIW. You all know my attraction to sappy wood so it's no surprise to see my possible choices. I'd like to hear some feedback on what I have laid out and ask you to please vote in the pole. Non-knife makers are also welcome since I'd like all points of view.










And some for the sap-haters . . .









Thanks for any and all input.


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## Kevin (Apr 20, 2014)

F needs to be further left to cacth some of the darker tones to highlight the curl better and H needs to be at the top where more eyes are.


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## ironman123 (Apr 20, 2014)

Kevin, the one with the rounded butt end is not going to have pointed scales like the other one is it? Rounded with a relief would look nice IMO. What...no curly Koa.

Ray


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## Kevin (Apr 20, 2014)

ironman123 said:


> Kevin, the one with the rounded butt end is not going to have pointed scales like the other one is it?



The scales will follow the form of the handle. You don't like the pointy one? I don't think Robert did either but he made them like I drew them.
@ironman123


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## ButchC (Apr 20, 2014)

Not a sap hater; I actually like the choices you drew out on the sappy blanks. I happen to think that the darker no-sap blank on the right fits the style of that knife very well.

Nice selection of choices. Looks like you may be completing two knives? My second choice is "H" FWIW.

Butch


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## Mike1950 (Apr 20, 2014)

I tried to do A and E since there were 2 knifes. Beautiful knifes and blanks.


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## Molokai (Apr 20, 2014)

Kevin, my advice is to leave the sappy one knife for last. Whiter woods try to catch more metal dust, the finer you go, the more they catch it. Sometimes it cannot be cleaned.... I am hoping you will learn there how to avoid it, and share it here...
Thats awesome you got to learn from another knifemaker, and he let you in his shop.

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 1 | Informative 1


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## Kevin (Apr 20, 2014)

Sorry Mike I have edited to allow for multiple choices thanks for pointing that out.


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## Kevin (Apr 20, 2014)

Molokai said:


> Thats awesome you got to learn from another knifemaker, and he let you in his shop.



I haven't met him yet only talked on the phone - Tom thanks for lettinig me know about the metal dust staining the sap, that's going to be a question I ask my knife maker for sure.


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## Molokai (Apr 20, 2014)

Whats a LO burl?
And my selection will be, slice A and take only 3/8, also B and also 3/8. Like you draw it. One scale for each side. Thats sappy one.
Other use either C or F, but i suggest other wood, canxan negro burl, amboyna burl, and dont forget curly Koa (i had to )

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Mike1950 (Apr 20, 2014)

Kevin said:


> Sorry Mike I have edited to allow for multiple choices thanks for pointing that out.



I still cannot post second vote- e and d are verry nice- might change once you resaw.
Staining sapwood- I had no trouble with staining on my rosewood- they were stablelized so that may make a difference.


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## Molokai (Apr 20, 2014)

the problem with that two tone wood is how will one side look compared with the other one. I am aiming at they look the same but its difficult to achieve that.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Kevin (Apr 20, 2014)

Mike1950 said:


> they were stablelized so that may make a difference.



Absolutely. Anything I clad these with will be stabilized even if it 's a species like DIW that does not benefit much from stabilizing.


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## Kevin (Apr 20, 2014)

Mike it says multiple votes allowed and I can multi-vote. Might have to clear your cookies. No big deal though you stated your prefernces.


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## SENC (Apr 20, 2014)

H is my favorite, but I also voted for the un-numbered no-sap on the right. Not a bad choice among them, though!

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Kevin (Apr 20, 2014)

Molokai said:


> Whats a LO burl?



Sorry - live oak burl.

I am going to show some amboyna and stabilized curly koa too then but I do not have any caxan negor burl why do you suggest them and what do you not like about the DIW - just doesn't fit the knives maybe? I mean, I can see that point of view also. As I was holding the amboyna in my hand I admit it sure does scream to be used on these knives.


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## woodtickgreg (Apr 20, 2014)

I voted A & H, I like the contrast of sappy stuff too. G is pretty nice too.


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## Molokai (Apr 20, 2014)

Kevin said:


> Sorry - live oak burl.
> 
> I am going to show some amboyna and stabilized curly koa too then but I do not have any caxan negor burl why do you suggest them and what do you not like about the DIW - just doesn't fit the knives maybe? I mean, I can see that point of view also. As I was holding the amboyna in my hand I admit it sure does scream to be used on these knives.


Its just me, i always use another wood on knife. Diw is supreme wood and one of my favorite to use.


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## barry richardson (Apr 20, 2014)

Molokai said:


> Whats a LO burl?
> And my selection will be, slice A and take only 3/8, also B and also 3/8. Like you draw it. One scale for each side. Thats sappy one.
> Other use either C or F, but i suggest other wood, canxan negro burl, amboyna burl, and dont forget curly Koa (i had to )


This is true about the sapwood. When sanding, even the dust from the dark wood, which is very fine, can get into the pores of the light wood and muddy it up. Haven't found a perfect solution to this, But it helps to seal the sapwood with shellac between each grit when you get down to the finer grits....


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## Molokai (Apr 20, 2014)

I read somewhere that paint thinner can be used to remove it but i never tried because i glue my scales with epoxy and i believe this two dont match...
Sometimes the eraser gum works just nice... I tried that on amboyna burl and it removed it all.


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## DKMD (Apr 20, 2014)

I know nothing about knives, but I'd suggest cutting out a negative template from poster board(or something similar) to use for choosing the scale... It'll help hide distracting figure in the remainder of the blank. 

Based on what I can see of the endgrain, balancing the sapwood is going to be challenging from side to side.

Reactions: Agree 2


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## Kevin (Apr 20, 2014)

That template idea is a great one Doc thanks. I agree also on the curvature problem - but it's not ever possible to match the scale unless they are bookmatched and I am not planning on bookmatching them if I use a sappy one because as you state it will reverse the curvature and look terrible.


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## Kevin (Apr 20, 2014)

Tom you said Amboyna here is the 6.25" x 6.25" x 3/8 piece I kept before selling the cube. And some other possibles. I am certain I do not want curly koa on it though.

Reactions: EyeCandy! 4


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## Molokai (Apr 20, 2014)

Oh, thats some nice woods. I dont think i can see it good. I have to feel the wood with my hands. So, this is what will do, sent it to me for inspection and then i will decide what wood will you use. Sorry, i will have to keep the rest for the time and the trouble.....

Reactions: Like 1 | Thank You! 1 | Funny 3


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## Molokai (Apr 20, 2014)

That Hrb down looks very nice, i would use that on my personal knife.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## ripjack13 (Apr 20, 2014)

I vote g & h....

Do you have any plexiglass? You could cut a piece to the grip size and "see" how it will look...

I have one I made for my pistol grips. Works great.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## robert flynt (Apr 20, 2014)

Kevin I kinda like c and f. Tom is right about metal dust getting in the sap wood, especially with a full tang knife. A lot of knife makers hardly use light colored woods because it takes a lot of extra effort to keep clean. It is almost a given that the tang is going to be scratched while shaping the handle. I don't even try to avoid it because it just easier to do the shaping with belt sander then use sand paper backed with brass bar to clean up the tang and leather backed sand paper to clean up the wood. I've had some success when doing the final sanding by making one pass down the tang with fresh sand paper then move the sand paper to a new spot on the paper. 0000 steel wool works well to keep from having to buff it. Even the rivets will rub black into the wood. My favorite DIW has the orange ( burnt umber ) color between the dark wood because the light colored wood has an irredescense giving the wood depth, the dark grain doesn't.

Reactions: Informative 2


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## robert flynt (Apr 20, 2014)

What is the block wood in the top of the photograph you posted for Tom? That looks nice.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Kevin (Apr 20, 2014)

Robert after what you and Tom have said I am not going to use sap then. Drats. I can always use it on a half tang knife though later right? Wouldn't a single block handle avoid those issues? 



robert flynt said:


> My favorite DIW has the orange ( burnt umber ) color between the dark wood because the light colored wood has an irredescense giving the wood depth, the dark grain doesn't.


I think I have some have some DIW like that I will post pics. 




robert flynt said:


> What is the block wood in the top of the photograph you posted for Tom? That looks nice.



That's also HRB that I got in a trade from Marcus. WHen it is fresh cut you can really see the glory of that thing it's awesome. All the wax is obscuring the phenomenal grain of it right now.

Reactions: Like 1


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## robert flynt (Apr 20, 2014)

Kevin said:


> That template idea is a great one Doc thanks. I agree also on the curvature problem - but it's not ever possible to match the scale unless they are bookmatched and I am not planning on bookmatching them if I use a sappy one because as you state it will reverse the curvature and look terrible.


The main thing when you split the block and apply the scales to the block you have a continous matched grain line that stops at the tang and picks up on the other side of the tang. As though the tang is splitting a wood. It is best to mark a V on the side of the block before you split it so it is easy to match back up perfectly. With out doing that, especially if you split more than one piece, some times it hard to do.

Reactions: Informative 1


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## robert flynt (Apr 20, 2014)

Yes you can use it on a full tang knife and tape up the guard to work on the wood when you start your hand sanding and vice versa to finish the guard. The olive wood knife I just finished, I shaped and finished the handle completely before epoxying it on to the blade to try to avoid the contamination problem. I also drilled and pinned the guard and spacers so they could be taken apart, filed, finished then put back together with no match up problems using 1/16 diameter rods.

Reactions: Informative 2


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## robert flynt (Apr 20, 2014)

Another thought is to bevel the tang pin holes, using carbide or stone, take a piece brass rod insert it in the pin holes and peen it on both sides of the tang so it want come out. Then you can drill and tap the brass so you can use allen head or star screws to attach the handles. You can temperarely glue the scales together finish them then screw them back on the tang after finishing.

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 1


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## PhoenixWoodDesigns (Apr 22, 2014)

I personally love sap contrast in DIW pieces, it always makes for an eye catching piece. Both A and H are fantastic.

EDIT: And OMG Kevin, send me that wood immediately! I think I saw termites on it, and I'll make sure that wood gets taken care of.


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## Molokai (May 3, 2014)

So, Kevin ? You started? We love photos here

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 2


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## Kevin (May 3, 2014)

No Tom, I'm not going to do anything to them until I've had a chance to work with the knifemaker I found. I hope our schedules can work out tomorrow or perhaps next weekend. I'm antsy too! :-)

Reactions: Like 1


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