[dnjrboy]

I am going to be undertaking my first try at building scales and was looking for a little feedback. I was thinking about starting with some purpleheart in a 1/4 thickness. I measured my existing scales and they are about 1/8 at the thickest.

Should I use 1/4 so that I have a lot of material to work with? I am a little afraid that once I start sanding/shaping I'll remove too much material from a 1/8 piece.

What do other people use?

[gssixgun]

I set my saw at 3/16 that way I have a little to work with, 1/4 is a little thick and takes a lot of sanding to get down to the right feel, even on a belt sander it takes to long....

[dnjrboy]

I don't have a lot of power tools, so I will be doing most of the shaping/sanding by hand. And, because of the lack of tools, I'll also be depending on the size of wood that I can find locally in store as a start.

[gssixgun]

In that case I would have to go for the 1/8 inch choice.....
If I was limited to using a minimum of power tools....

[Philadelph]

I agree with Glen. If you don't have any power tools and start at 1/4" you'll probably want to give up.

[floppyshoes]

+1 on what Glen and Alex said so far. For regular scales, 1/8" or perhaps even 1/10" is the way to go for 99% of the woods out there.