Thread: Workin with horn is making me crazy!!!!

Right. I have used mineral oil rather than neatsfoots sometimes? I found it works very well especially if "applied" with some 2k sandpaper - like it really gets it in. I have also heard that you can SOAK horn scales in oil (I guess mineral or neatsfoot?) for hours, even a day - which I have been interested in doing but have not had enough oil to do it yet.

I've had good luck ripping 1/2 inch slabs

Originally Posted by Mijbil

Right. I have used mineral oil rather than neatsfoots sometimes? I found it works very well especially if "applied" with some 2k sandpaper - like it really gets it in. I have also heard that you can SOAK horn scales in oil (I guess mineral or neatsfoot?) for hours, even a day - which I have been interested in doing but have not had enough oil to do it yet.

Go to any tack store and you can pick up 32oz. bottles of neatsfoot oil cheap. I just got back from a long vacation and this thread reminded me of 4 razors I had sitting in NF oil. It was meant to be overnight but whoops.... it's been almost 2 weeks. Great news is that they all look fine.... in fact better than fine. No warping at all and none seem to have softened either. They all have their original bow to them. So far as I can tell, there is absolutely nothing wrong with a super long soak. Now of course YMMV.

What exactly happens after the soak?

But then there's sometimes 100-200 year old horn that looks perfectly fine. Like the scales on the razor below look original and have no sign of warpage whatsoever. And i've seen quite a few really old horn scales that are just the same and even nicer, some with the quality of my max rescales but at least two times his age. The scales look rally very well made too (hard to see on that picture and the razor's already on its way to the new owner and can't take new ones), so it's possible that back then the horn was carefully selected by people who have expertise in those things.

I agree with everything thats been said so far. One extra step that I take is: after I take the horn out of the boiling water, I clamp it between two pieces of steel with two c-clamps turned REAL tight...then I put it in the oven at 250 degrees F for two or three hours... then take out and allowed to cool before unclamping.
Sometimes this has to be done several times for it to take well, but I've had pretty good success. AND I start with a horn which is crooked and twisted on all three planes, not a pre-cut slab.

When working with horn, the most important tool is patience.

Good luck
Bob OCD RAZORS

Cool topic as I'm looking to save as many original horn scales as I can

Started collecting bits to experiment on. Never throw anything away