Got out in the shop for an afternoon session. Had to wait. Our guy came to spray for the spring bugs this morning and whew wee, the Oh Dear had to dissipate.
Anywho.... the first step was to cut the lacewood block in half. I did that after carefully measuring the thickness, marking down the center and then bookmatching that puppy on the bandsaw. Pucker factor was high.
Then I cut the rounded nose off the scales, holding them tightly together, going slowly and letting the saw do the work so pushing didn't cause them to move apart.
They came out very nice. The number one pair is cut, and I used one scale from that pair to mark the cocobolo for the second pair for cutting.
** Yup, I know the cut edges aren't perfect and smooth and the lines don't exactly flow, they are cut oversized, I will shape and sand them to fit.... no need to try for perfection on the bandsaw. I SHOOT for oversize.
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I took my time on the first cut, then used the blank from the first cut to mark the second scale. I scratched my head a lot, figuring out exactly how to make the grain (flame) face the right direction and get the sides facing UP correctly. I couldn't get it wrong. I have MORE wood but THIS is the piece the kid chose. You don't want to disappoint the kids. I think they came out fine, and keep in mind I am looking MOSTLY at the pattern of the grains, as I cut them oversized to allow for shaping. The GRAIN's the thing here.
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Now comes the good part. I am cutting the darker cocobolo for the Tanto I plan to keep. This is supposed to match my grips on my .45. Or not. Anywho, I found the darker wood and got lucky with some great grain here. Again, layout was key. Hopefully when I start shaping, the grain stays good all the way thru.
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After the individual pics, I told them to line it up for a group shots. They all thought THEY were the ONE but I told them to shut it, and line up.
They did. Here is the group shot. The wife likes the Lacewood the best, right now. I like it as well, but I think the Tanto is going to Kill it at the end.
Do y'all have a favorite so far. Yeah, yeah, I know it's early, but you may as well get involved.
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Tomorrow's first task will be to tape all the blanks back together and round the front edges prior to starting the assembly by epoxying the one panel in place so I can drill through using the blank as a reference. As I said during the last build... this is where the multi build pays off. I set up the sander with the various grits and sand all three before changing. I mix epoxy for three rather than just one. Win/Win.