Thread: fragile horn scales? what to do?

I unpinned a restore project last night. It is a Blue Steel (germany) that was in horn handles. The horn handles were translucent and I polished them until they looked like glass, but I noticed when I was removing the old pins that I heard small but faint cracking sounds, and I'm afraid that when I go to re-pin them, that my ball peen hammer is just going to split them down the middle.

What should I do? I have some ideas, but I'm not really too sure about them. Should I use some sort of reinforcement? Should I coat the scales in super glue, or does that defeat the elegance of having horn scales? Should I use removable pins? What would you do?

Originally Posted by marosell

I unpinned a restore project last night. It is a Blue Steel (germany) that was in horn handles. The horn handles were translucent and I polished them until they looked like glass, but I noticed when I was removing the old pins that I heard small but faint cracking sounds, and I'm afraid that when I go to re-pin them, that my ball peen hammer is just going to split them down the middle.

What should I do? I have some ideas, but I'm not really too sure about them. Should I use some sort of reinforcement? Should I coat the scales in super glue, or does that defeat the elegance of having horn scales? Should I use removable pins? What would you do?

What I have done with some old horn scales is to soak them in a 3in1 oil overnight to ensure the horn is renourished. Once I took the scales out from the oil I rubbed it in, and it appears to have helped.
This is just what I have done but others may have different method to help.