First horn scales

Restoring this J. Allen & Sons. I was hoping to restore the tranparent horn scales, but cracked them taking out the pins. Shame, because they have numbers and letters stamped on 1 side - does that make it military? Also has a lead wedge.

I have a set of scale blanks in horn, but have never tried horn. Texas Knifemakers is in my town, so I get to sort for ones I like. I just did an initial hand sanding as below. The one mocked to the blade is wet to show the color better. I’ll definately want a gloss finish.

I’ll need to read around to figure out how to bend them a bit and finish them out.

I’m a little nervous about pinning them, after cracking the original scales. Anything I need to know about that?

Attachment 282874

Attachment 282875

Good on you! Nice first try and success to come!
~Richard

A couple of thoughts.
Nice start. The holes are usually easiest to place before you get to far into it. A gloss finish requires quite a bit of wet sanding. I find cool water and frequent splashing under a fast dripping tap works well. If you want very high gloss you can sand up to 2K and polish by hand from there. I have a low speed high torque drill that I put in a vice and run a 3” buffing wheel and some polishing cake so I often drop the hand sanding after 1K and get a reasonable gloss.
Being able to pick through the bin is a serious luxury and I am very envious. I cannot see the numbers on the old scales, but generally they were hot stamped for the military with letter and numbers.

White rubbing compound on a buffer will bring the shine out.

The original scales can be repaired. IMHO.
Though the ones you chose are really nice, I prefer to keep them as original as possible. Lots of cool things can be done to horn.

The black horn with white streaking in my experience is the most stubborn horn to work. It really has a mind of its own.

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Originally Posted by mycarver

The black horn with white streaking in my experience is the most stubborn horn to work. It really has a mind of its own.

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yep, they do have a way of making you very humble. I wonder how Aust does those fantastic black/white masterpieces.

As with any horn the only way to really take the fight out of it is heat. And lots of it. You can make horn do whatever you want as you can see here. 90 degree bend with a half twist. And if I want to I can straighten it out again

How do you heat them up Carver?

It took time and elbow grease, but I was able to get a really smooth glossy finish with micro mesh pads.

Micro mesh pads can make for some crazy gloss finishes.

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Originally Posted by JP5

How do you heat them up Carver?

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Yes, what is your method.!?
I use a heat lamp. I keep it close, and move it back n fourth across the scales, testing the flex and temp of the scales. Once their soft and flexible, and I can't touch them for more than a couple seconds, ( Bare hand) I bend them backwards enough to brake the memory from the fibers, then press them flat on a cool surface, till set.

Works for cellulose or Bakelite, too. But not as hot as horn

Here is a black horn scale polished with micro mesh.

Attachment 282957
That is my other hand with my fingers spread reflected on the scale.

Again, sorry for the delays. It’s my granddaughters birthday!!!

Watched a video from London with guys who worked with horn. Also checked I with the guild of horn workers . Yes, there is such a group.

Do they recommend boiling water or any other such heat? No. Why ? Horn only looses its memory at 350-400 degrees. What’s the temp of water? 220. Yeah it’ll soften them enough to bend them better than stone cold but nothing that will last . Really, put them in boiling water and bend them like I just showed you. Ain’t gonna happen.its just not hot enough by nearly 200 degrees.

As someone mentioned you have to erase its memory. Some will say stick them in hot water and clamp overnight. That does nothing. Clamp for a week and it’s fhe same outcome. They haven’t need changed and made neutral and most likely they’ll move again . Heat them up with a flame just as these folk who make a living at working horn and you’ll have a product that will do whatever you want.
Heat them sufficiently and you can bend them into pretzels and straighten them back out again.
Exactly the same procedure early American Indians used to work horn. But today guys say boiling water. It simply isn’t the way to work horn. It may seem like it. But it’s not.

And my favorite outcome is sand and polish. That’s a reflection of a swing arm
Lamp and you see the bulb and the blue streaks are flourescent lamps 10’ up on the ceiling.
I’ve never used neatsfoot oil.

Hope your granddaughter had a great birthday! That is a really nice finish on those scales. They look wet. I haven't used any polish on the ones I posted. They are not original scales like yours btw. Mine were shaped from a blank.

Thanks JPS, she had a great time!
Polish really does bring out the shine. But the vast majority of my scales are from slabs. Polish up just the same.
Here are a couple quick examples

I used my day off to finish my horn scales. They are medium gloss, which I like with the not-perfect blade. Plus that was as polished as I could figure out how to do. Finished with Ren Wax.

I used my new belt/disc sander to thin and shape. If you ever wondered whether a belt sander can grab a scale from your grip, sling it under the safetybar, and jam the machine to a halt — the answer appears to be yes!


Attachment 284090

Nicely done! It has a perfect harmony to it . I think you are totally correct on the finish.