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Saw Cut Scales

There was recently a discussion started on how to obtain rough saw cut marks on scale material.

This is how I did it.

There are certainly other methods. The approach I am presenting is simply one I was tooled up to implement & one easily reproduced. It could be accomplished on a drill press.

It's most commonly seen on bone scales ......

However.. the original query concerned hardwood. Toward that end .. I used scraps of a wood laminate and Desert Ironwood. Above is the initial result in the laminated wood material. The carbide cutter is offset ~ 2 inches from the center of rotation. The cuts are spaced @ ~ 3/16 of an inch. The depth of each cut is ~ 1/16 of an inch.

The initial 4 cuts in the Desert Ironwood used a radial offset of 2 inches for the carbide cutter .. the depth again was ~ 1/16 of an inch ..however.. the distance between the cuts was reduced to ~ 1/8 inch.

I reduced the offset radius of the cutter from 2 inches to 1 inch for the inner 5 cuts. The depth of each cut & the distance between the cuts remained the same.

Action photo.

Note: One of the carbide cutters was removed for this operation.

I found the result acceptably close to that found on the scales of the Rough Rider. I believe .. once contoured for scales .. it would be a good match.

I cleaned the results up by briefly sanding with 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper.

........................

A similar Carbide Tip Adjustable Circle Cutter is available from Harbor Freight for about $6.oo. I used a Grizzly G8689 Mini-Mill ..however.. the same could be accomplished with a simpler drill press.

Obviously .. the results could be modified by changing the settings from those I implemented .. i.e. offset radius of the cutter .. distance between cuts .. depth of cuts.

This is one method of obtaining that saw cut look that was originally queried.

Enjoy

D ale

3 members like this

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by allanm on May 1, 2016 at 20:07

Good idea there Dale, I wondered when I saw the incoming email before I hit the real page here how you would do it with a drill press, but your photos make that clear.

Since I moved from Ohio to Virginia we bought a townhouse, kids are grown and gone, I have no garage any more and anyway I have not had much in the way of tools since I came from Africa 17 years ago. So I'm very limited but a drill press, bench grinder and sander might be in my future. :-) Small models that I can store in a small shed and bring out to use in the little back garden on a portable bench every now and then but I can see I will need a few more tools.

Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on May 8, 2016 at 21:01

Dale,

I am very impressed with this. Considering we discussed this briefly, I only found the one example online and it was not quite what he was looking for. I think this is going to fit the bill much better

In MemoriamPermalink Reply by D ale on May 9, 2016 at 6:39

Thanks, Jan.

.
After giving some thought to the problem @ hand .. I wanted to come up w/ a method I felt was safer & easier to implement. A method requiring tools which more of us would have access to.

Safety.

Well .. common sense is still required ..but.. a bent & therefor unbalanced saw blade spinning @ a high rate of speed .. I find scary.

.
Further .. so much was dependent on the "feed rate" of the "saw method".

.
Required tooling .. a $6 part from Harbor freight & a simple drill press.

Note: When making the cuts described above .. do them slowly. i.e. a few thousands of an inch @ a time .. until the desired cut depth is achieved.

This method .. offers more control & a more reliable outcome .. imo.

Thanks again.

Enjoy

D ale

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