Thread: Some thoughts about horn.

Some thoughts about horn

I have worked with, fabricated, and cussed horn scales for a few years. Even new, they tend to warp or twist. What to do?

My experience is that the antique razors with horn scales that were not warped were ones that I received in coffins, whether original or not. ¿Hmmm?

Gave me an idea...I had tried wetting one side of the short scale and it worked for a couple days. I also tried laying the short scale on a dampened cloth for a few days and that worked somewhat longer. ¿What would happen to the scales if they were hung like little bats by their tails from magnets for long enough to become equally saturated or dried throughout each scale?

Well, after a few weeks even those distorted by a quarter inch to one side had approached normal.


From that, my take is: if the entire razor is at the same humidity / moisture retention, the scales will approximate the original shape at pinning after being normalized for a varying length of time. That may not work as quickly, or at all for razors with pewter inlays in one scale, but it did help a lot!

Maybe storing horn razors in coffins could be the way to reduce the problems with the scales warping?

YMMV; of course!
~Richard

Gravity???????

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Gravity???????

Yes, that may also help the normalization to be equal, didn't think about that ...
Thanks!
~Richard
PS. Razors shown are both old stock and new rescales that had warped badly. Some of their buddies are hanging around yet.

that is an interesting thought train. I often take put them in a ziploc with oil and it seems to change things very slightly, perhaps if I followed it with the bat method the end results would be an even more true scale. I'll have to follow you on this one, of course that means I need to get some more razors.

I hear the neatsfoot oil is good to recondition the old horn scales. Moisturizes I guess ? So far most all of my old Sheffield horn scaled razors are fine. Maybe the fact that being in a tropical climate, with plenty of humidity, and never using 'heat' in the winter, keeps the atmosphere they are stored in more friendly to the old things ?

Interesting thoughts on stabilizing horn scale moisture content. Has anyone tried sealing both sides of a non warped horn scale with crazy glue to see if remains straight from being sealed?

Bob

Like Ivory and Bone,horn is hygroscopic,It expands with Humidty Changes.
Do not Know about horn but I can Gaurantee that if you seal Ivory on both sides it will Crack.

Yea, that is a problem with horn as it tends to gain or loose moisture like ivory, hygroscopic effect, and changes shape because of it. If horn can be sealed so that it can neither gain nor loose moisture content you would think it would stay straight and not warp.

I am guessing that whatever the ivory was sealed with still allowed moisture to escape but not enter the ivory so it cracks when it dries out. Whatever the sealant used should allow no in or ex-filtration of moisture to stabilize the moisture content of the object sealed.

Bob

Originally Posted by BobH

Yea, that is a problem with horn as it tends to gain or loose moisture like ivory, hygroscopic effect, and changes shape because of it. If horn can be sealed so that it can neither gain nor loose moisture content you would think it would stay straight and not warp.

I am guessing that whatever the ivory was sealed with still allowed moisture to escape but not enter the ivory so it cracks when it dries out. Whatever the sealant used should allow no in or ex-filtration of moisture to stabilize the moisture content of the object sealed.

Bob

They never sealed Ivory,they Oiled it with mineral oil,This allows transpiration as do's ren-wax.
I can ship Ivory from my local with a humidty of 25% to Florida with a Humidity of 90% and it will Expand up to .004 of an inch (yes Ihave Measured it).
I have seen Ivory collections (netsuki) that are worth hundreds of thousands of dollors,they are stored in Climate controlled cabinates, removed once a year and oiled.
If you ever buy raw ivory let it stabilize in your local for several weeks before working with it or it can cause you grief.
Store items containing Ivory as you would fine wines or cigars.

Yea, I understand that. I do not disbelieve you.

If whatever material, be it ivory, horn or any other, whose cells can and do take in or release moisture be sealed with a non permeable barrier then they should neither shrink nor expand. Obviously mineral oil and ren-wax are not up to that task so a controlled climate storage is the only way to try and preserve them. I don't know if such a sealant exists just asking.

Bob