A little info on horn and tortoise.

[JMS]

Me and "The Glen" were having a bit of a disagreement on a set of scales. he believed them to be tortoise and I believed them to be mottled horn, which prompted me to do a little research and I discovered this little tidbit:
Colonial Craftsmen: And the ... - Google Book Search
The info on horn and tortoise starts on the bottom of page 54and ends on 56

Interesting stuff! Actually gives you enough info to figure out how to handle horn to make scales as far as preliminary work before the actual cutting of the scales.