Originally Posted by
Neil Miller
The peeling part is a symptom of delamination - the layers are coming apart. I couldn't see any sign of it in the pics you posted, or I would have mentioned it. Sometimes - if the material is thick enough - you can sand through it, sometimes not. You mostly see it in old, dried horn. Soaking in neatsfoot oil doesn't cure it, it just makes it look less obvious - the refractive index of the oil must be somewhere near that of horn, so oil fills the gaps between layers rather than air. If the oil dries out/evaporates, the delamination will still be there.
Not sure about the knot and pitmarks - never seen that before. Perhaps a finer grade paper would help - try it on a scrap piece.
Seeing as the horn has several issues already I'm not too keen on the boiling water bending process - it might make things worse!
Regards,
Neil.