Thread: Dovo 140 in Olivewood

My friend and straight razor mentor, AFDavis11, asked me to rescale one of his razors. The razor didn’t balance to Alan’s liking and he sought a set of lighter and thinner scales.

Alan gave me free rein on choice of materials, but he did disclose at one point that he liked the look of light colored wood. He originally eyed a piece of ironwood with several large sapwood areas that would have made a handsome set of scales had I not discovered several cracks that rendered the piece unworkable. Bummer. In the end I elected to proceed with olivewood. I decided that a metallic wedge would suit the combination well, and I opted for aluminum to keep the scales as light as possible. To match the aluminum, I used nickel silver pins with domed stainless steel washers. The scales were finished with approximately a dozen coats of Tru-oil.

According to my digital kitchen scale, the new scales weighed in at roughly half of the old pair. The new scales are noticeably thinner as well. I did recycle the original bearing washers, but I hammered them flat and sanded them down as thin as I could first.

I really enjoyed the project - I welcome all pursuits that lead to relaxing alone time in the garage.

Thanks, Alan, for trusting me with your gorgeous razor (the gold plated spine work is stunning!).

Brian

Nice work! Very smooth, clean look to it

Well done, beautiful scales

Wow, great work! Love those scales.

That is a very beautiful set of scales. Very well done indeed. I hope Mr. Davis enjoys his properly balanced razor.

The color of the wood picks up the gold in the glade very nicely. How was the olive wood to work with? I have never used it on anything before. What would you compare it to in how it works; tropical hardwood, maple, walnut,...?

Brian! Wow!! That is nice!!! I'm excited about that blade once again!!!!

That is a wonderful transformation Brian! It looks as though it came from the factory like that.

SHHHHHWEEEETETTTNESS !!! Gotta love Olivewood

This is a beautiful, classy set of scales, and cutting down on the thickness has truly done it justice, so much more than the original scales. Excellent work and hope to see many more like it!