ohiococonut
Member
A while back I posted that a gentleman contacted me after buying a couple of my pens and wanted me to make a few things out of Amboyna Burl. He wanted grip panels for a 1911, knife scales and a pen. Since he didn't really want a high end pen I threw in the pencil so he'll have a set. He doesn't want them to use, he just wants them to admire and show off.
Anyway, it was a learning experience working with Amboyna in something other than a cylinder shape. I found out that since it is a burl it doesn't like to be thinned very much with a planer.
The knife scales needed to be at least half as thick as they were so I fired up the planer. It had fairly new blades and I only lowered it 1/64" at a time. It didn't care, about the 4th pass I heard this ungodly sound and pieces came flying out.
So much for having a matching pair of knife scales :frown: I didn't dare run the second one through again so I spent a considerable amount of time using the belt sander and hand sanding it down. When Amboyna Burl gets warm it does tend to bow too. They are small enough that the pattern doesn't differ that much from side to side. Because they were so small they took the longest amount of time to complete since the hole placement was extremely critical.
The grips weren't that tough to do but it has been 20yrs since I made a set so I took my time. When I went to apply my finish using TruOil it wouldn't dry. I wasn't sure if it was the oil in the wood or the age of my TruOil so I cleaned it off and applied CA. THAT was a trick to do and do evenly. I made small jigs to hold them but I still managed to glue my fingers together several times.
All in all I enjoyed the challenge but I don't think it's something I want to do anytime soon. It's not a very good picture but the grips and knife panels do have a high gloss finish. The Kimber in the pic is mine, it's a Team Match II in 45ACP.
Comments good or bad are always welcome.
Anyway, it was a learning experience working with Amboyna in something other than a cylinder shape. I found out that since it is a burl it doesn't like to be thinned very much with a planer.
The knife scales needed to be at least half as thick as they were so I fired up the planer. It had fairly new blades and I only lowered it 1/64" at a time. It didn't care, about the 4th pass I heard this ungodly sound and pieces came flying out.
So much for having a matching pair of knife scales :frown: I didn't dare run the second one through again so I spent a considerable amount of time using the belt sander and hand sanding it down. When Amboyna Burl gets warm it does tend to bow too. They are small enough that the pattern doesn't differ that much from side to side. Because they were so small they took the longest amount of time to complete since the hole placement was extremely critical.
The grips weren't that tough to do but it has been 20yrs since I made a set so I took my time. When I went to apply my finish using TruOil it wouldn't dry. I wasn't sure if it was the oil in the wood or the age of my TruOil so I cleaned it off and applied CA. THAT was a trick to do and do evenly. I made small jigs to hold them but I still managed to glue my fingers together several times.
All in all I enjoyed the challenge but I don't think it's something I want to do anytime soon. It's not a very good picture but the grips and knife panels do have a high gloss finish. The Kimber in the pic is mine, it's a Team Match II in 45ACP.
Comments good or bad are always welcome.
