Question for those who know

I recently received a set of blank 1/4 X 2 X 6 in black horn that's not quite straight. a little warped. any suggestions on how best to flatten them. Thanks :shrug:

Being as they are 1/4" thick you might not have to after you thin them down :)

But assuming you do, after they are thinned down you can boil them and press them

I have never had any issues after doing this, but have read about other people having issues again, not sure what they did different

I have read of others using a dry oven at 300° + and even a propane torch, but have never needed to go there myself...

Here is a link plus another link inside that one with horn it will take longer then 30 seconds to soften them

http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...ed-scales.html


ps: You can also use steam if you can direct it

You can heat them in boiling water the press them between two hard, flat surfaces. It's pretty common for horn blanks to come warped. I usually flatten one side on each blank by sanding. Tape those two faces together and start shaping. The problem with horn is once you reflatten it, it's prone to start warping again. I'm getting ready to make a set soon, I'll do a tutorial on how I do it.

depending how bad they are
I have done the following
the 1/4" thickness can be thinned & flattened to about 1/8" or less for your actual scale thickness
if worse than this

same as vintage scales put in a sealed bag into hot water heat the horn & clamp until cooled flatten

also I submerge all my translucent horn in neat's-foot oil for a week or 2 or until I want to use it then remove & wipe it clean with paper, if any distortion (Usually minimal) beyond what can be thinned out as mentioned you can clamp it flat until dried out some & rechecked in a week or so until it is flat enough
the translucent / light coloured horn loses the whiter powdery look & gets very clear from this also.


as usual your experiences may vary but hope it helps

Edit: I type to low - as noted above by Glenn
- beware the flame drying especially with finished horn as this will dry & burn the surface slightly loosing any polishing done but is great for giving a matt aged vintage look to the horn

I second gssixgun with the boiling or steaming method. I tried dry heat and had no luck with it, it only damaged the horn for me so it may have been an error on my part. I boil water and pour over the blanks and let them sit for about 3-5 mins. I clamp them between two pieces of steel, you could use anything flat I would imagine. I probably over clamp but I use one clamp every two inches just to make sure I have even pressure across the entire blank(s). I leave them clamps for several days typically. This method has worked for me the best but there have been times when it hasn't worked. At this point I typically try to contact the seller and try an exchange. Hope this helps!

At a 1/4" thick you will likely need to heat it for a little while to get the penetration you are looking for. I would think that if you boil it for a few minutes and take it out and check to see how pliable it has become and then if need be you can put it back in. I have done a few blanks in boiling water but have always roughed them out first so I was boiling smaller pieces of horn.

Thanks guys. i got a couple of pcs of horn so i'll get 2 pcs of flat steel and use the hot water to make plyable then put between the steel and clamp. when flat i will use double sided tape to stick them together then cut out two blank shapes . :tu

Have just flattened a horn using the hot water method, was a whole horn and worked ok. Cools fast and loses elasticity. Since then I have read they used to heat it in tallow. Will be trying that next time.

heres a link to a thread i just made about making scales.
http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...-tutorial.html

The problem with flattening the blanks before shaping is that when you thin them out they will warp. At least, they do every time i thin them out. So i dont bother any more unless they are very bad, because you can thin them out and remove the warp. The set i made in the tutorial above werent that warped to begin with, so all i did was pinch them in a vise after thinning for a day, no heating.