Thread: Blanks for scales?

BTW, would still like to know more about horn. What you look for in horn? Do you sand it and shape it the same as wood? What type of coating is put on it? It has me thinking i might want to pick some up for the future.

Originally Posted by Gasman

BTW, would still like to know more about horn. What you look for in horn? Do you sand it and shape it the same as wood? What type of coating is put on it? It has me thinking i might want to pick some up for the future.

You shape and sand it just like wood. It doesn't require finishing like wood though. You just sand up to anywhere between 1000 and 2000 grit, normally wet. Then buff it with polish. There are a lot of tutorials on here, I think I even made one at some point.

Horn comes in a variety of colours and it does work very similar to wood, in that you can sand it and shape it in a similar fashion, and it does have some grain to it. It can take a very high gloss polish without a finish being applied to it. Horn and bone are my favourite scale materials. I find it very easy to work with both of them. There are some very good tutorials here on how to work horn.

Ditto on the exotic hardwoods like cocobolo, rosewood, and ebony. The wood-scales I have done so far with those have been a joy to work, and take a deep, beautiful lustre from the tight grain structure and naturally-occurring oils. Just wear a mask, as rosewood especially is known to be an irritant/allergen. Someday I want to get some lignum vitae to play with too.

Horn is also fun to work with, though it can be a trick to get it flat and oriented correctly because of the natural curvature of horns. But it also takes a gorgeous lustre if you watch for delamination in the lower grits.

That all sounds like good info. Guess i will need to check the library and do some reading. Thank you all.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...-way-i-do.html
This is one of my favourite tutorials on the subject. However there are many, by several people. Read them all and watch Spazola's videos too!

Originally Posted by RezDog

http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...-way-i-do.html
This is one of my favourite tutorials on the subject. However there are many, by several people. Read them all and watch Spazola's videos too!

Read the write-up and it seems simple enough. Ill have to bookmark it for later. Thanks.