Thread: Cutting horns thickness in half

Hey all! Just had another fail in experimenting in cutting a piece of horn in half... Orignally I purchased some blanks from Maggard Razors for $9 on the 6x2x1/8 or 150x50x3.5mm Is what I measured. Of course I could go back to doing that but I found someone on eBay selling horn for $9 a piece for 150x50x8-10mm so naturally I thought hey I can just cut the piece in half and get two pieces for the price of one! But thus far it has proven to be more of a pain than anything else...

Attempt 1) I cut but on that one I just drew a line and hoped for the best, of course that didn't work lmao but the horn was cut very easily... Which that piece is the cut piece in the middle

Attempt 2) I purchased a micrometer from harbor freight and used it to dig out a line right down the middle of the horn... I did recently change the stock blade so that might have been the problem or this horn is waaaay denser... But I tried to cut this piece nice and show, let the blade do the work and the cut was straight on top on on the bottom was rounding out to excape... So I said let me try and at least get one blank out of this.... I tighted tension thinking that was the problem and flipped it over and tried again but this time it just bowed the other direction hahahaha... Murphy's law right? So I tried to sand that down and for the most part was able to get the right thickness but on one side showed on the right of the picture...

pending attempt 3) feeling defeated I've been just thinking about what else I can do so I have an idea... This time I measured Brads horn got an average of 3.5mm thickness so I marked on each side of this blank 4mm and now I know what can be wasted (shown on left of picture) I'm going to get a dremel and cut the line to kind of convince the blade to go in the path of least resistance...

the reason this is a pending attempt is because I first wanted to pick the brains of the elite and see what you guys think about my plan or if there is something more I should do... Recommendations are welcome before I waste my 3 piece of horn

Sorry I have the blanks all stacked like dominos, my two kids where taking over the table now that I was using it of course... So this was the room I had to work with lmao

i purchased some 3/8 thick horn off ebay and had good luck ripping it in half. i first cut the rough shape of the scale (just a little over sized). then scribed a line about .125 using a old fashioned carpenters marking gauge from both side of the blank( you could use a combination square too). this left two lines all the way around the blank. i used a japanese style pull saw to cut between the lines. i turn the blank every so often and cut at it from the other side. hope this makes sense. the blanks may warp a little when your done because of the internal stress or something, but they can usually be straightend with heat

Originally Posted by tintin

i purchased some 3/8 thick horn off ebay and had good luck ripping it in half. i first cut the rough shape of the scale (just a little over sized). then scribed a line about .125 using a old fashioned carpenters marking gauge from both side of the blank( you could use a combination square too). this left two lines all the way around the blank. i used a japanese style pull saw to cut between the lines. i turn the blank every so often and cut at it from the other side. hope this makes sense. the blanks may warp a little when your done because of the internal stress or something, but they can usually be straightend with heat

That is actually really helpful... My next shot was going to be with hand tools, The horn warped with the hand tools too? I went ahead and what I said a shot and it was the same results but at least this time I got one blank out of it and it is warped... M

i think i warps because it is just trying to return to it's original shape. there a some tutorials on straightening warped scales. i use a propane torch ( to heat it carefully) or a blow dryer. heat it and hold it in shape till it cools. may take several tries. let it set over night before using it as it may warp again and need to be straightened until it submits to you.
i think cutting only the rough cut scales instead of the whole blank is also easier to get a straight line and to straighten. IMHO

Re-sawing is one of the most difficult things to do with a band saw, because first, the saw has to be set up properly, And use a fence.

Do not freehand or try to balance on a ¼ inch edge, if you have to, glue the horn to a block of wood to make your cut safely.

Most probably your blade does not have enough teeth or wide enough set, is not sharp or is of poor quality. And or the saw is not properly set up to track straight, more tension is not the answer.

Practice on wood blocks first, and do be careful, a band saw will take off a finger in a heartbeat.

If the horn warps, straighten it.

Here is a good video on

setting up a bandsaw

.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

Re-sawing is one of the most difficult things to do with a band saw, because first, the saw has to be set up properly, And use a fence.

Do not freehand or try to balance on a ¼ inch edge, if you have to, glue the horn to a block of wood to make your cut safely.

Most probably your blade does not have enough teeth or wide enough set, is not sharp or is of poor quality. And or the saw is not properly set up to track straight, more tension is not the answer.

Practice on wood blocks first, and do be careful, a band saw will take off a finger in a heartbeat.

If the horn warps, straighten it

you know I thought I put everything I attempted on the forum put I also clamped in some wood and measured the distance for the cut and realized that the horn doesn't need a straight cut because of the variation in the thickness of the horn..

Bur I have never used or setup a bandsaw so it could very well be ok not using it properly... The other thing is that mine is a 64 inch and I couldn't high quality blades for it

Didn't you start a similar thread where a pull saw was advised? There are different qualities of horn - not the material itself, but in terms of ageing. If it's been aged before being cut it's likely to be less prone to distortion in the first place. However, my advice would be to stick to the Maggard thickness - you don't need to take a great deal of material off either side until you are down to an ideal scale thickness.

Originally Posted by UKRob

Didn't you start a similar thread where a pull saw was advised? There are different qualities of horn - not the material itself, but in terms of ageing. If it's been aged before being cut it's likely to be less prone to distortion in the first place. However, my advice would be to stick to the Maggard thickness - you don't need to take a great deal of material off either side until you are down to an ideal scale thickness.

Yep you are correct I did post something prior but I just didn't have the opportunity to get the pull saw so the reason I reposted was so I can give out the new idea and maybe get some input on it... Honestly it still was a complete fail and what I did end up with just took Way too much work for any kind of return on investment... Just going to keep it simple and make and make an order for enough horn so I never have to deal with trying to pinch pennies again! Hahaha that's how sick of this I am