Thread: Mineral oil for horn ??

About every 9 months or less I try to treat all of my ivory with mineral oil to keep it from drying out and keeping the stress cracks from shinkage away. Today is the day and I am sitting here watching my ivory scales soaking and noticing that I should be doing something to my horn scaled razors. I read some where that horn can be treated with pure neatsfoot oil - more than likely here on SRP. I question the purity of the neatsfoot oil that I have on hand since it was actually formulated for leather. I am wondering if anyone had used mineral oil on horn scales and what the results were - is mineral oil good for horn like it is for ivory? Thanks!

I've used mineral oil on an old horn set of scales and I suppose it came out alright. I don't soak them in it, but rather rub the leftovers from oiling the blade onto the scales. It will drink it up but takes a couple days to do so. I haven't noticed anything BAD happen, but then again I haven't seen anything GOOD happen either.

Hi Cal!

Many have used mineral oil with success, but (IMHO) neatsfoot oil is the "bees knees" for horn.

If the label on your neatsfoot oil says it's 100% pure, you can use it on your horn scales even though it says it's made for leather.

If you have doubts, just go with the mineral oil.

I also like neatsfoot oil for horn - black and blonde. I rub it on with a qtip and let it sit for a day, then rub in/off the rest with a paper towel. Repeat as necessary (though I don't think I've ever done it more than once).

As a bonus, neatsfoot oil can also be used on strops.

I do think mineral oil is recommended for ivory, but I'm not 100% sure. Also no idea what would be used on bone.

This thread had me curious. I've never done anything to my ivory or horn scaled razors beyond rust preventative on the blades. So I did some google research and came up with this. Got to go get the mineral oil and Q-tips.

"
Care and Preservation

Ivory is a fragile medium; many 19th century pieces were preserved because they were kept in a barrel of oil onboard ship. Gary Kiracofe, a scrimshander in Nantucket, MA, advises collectors that if a piece looks dry, one should fill the center of the tooth with unscented baby oil and allow it to remain until as much oil as possible is soaked into the microscopic pores of the ivory. Clear paste wax or high-end car wax will seal the surface after oiling. Bone items are even more fragile (more fibrous and porous) and may be treated the same way - with a light clear mineral oil. Organic oils are inadvisable, as they will eventually hasten discoloration, as on old piano keys subjected to the natural oils in one's hands.
Professional conservators of art and historic artifacts will generally recommend against applying any type of dressing (like oil or wax) to organic objects such as whale ivory. Sensible choices regarding storage and display will preserve whale ivory best: keep out of direct sunlight, handle with cotton gloves or freshly-washed hands, and avoid keeping in places with shifting humidity and temperature. Coating organic objects can induce eventual cracking."

Very interesting and informative short article!

I was instructed by a conservationist about mineral oil initially. He felt it was the best way to stabalize ivory scales and to prevent them from cracking from shrikage ( i.e. around the pins ) and warping. He said for the most part ivory really does not like water It seemed to him that ivory was a strange choice for scales because of this. But he said he could uderstand it for the looks carvability and durability of hardness. I had thought the reason for the thinness of ivory scales was because of cost and the problems of supply even back in the 19th cent.. I am now thinking it probably has to do with the stability issue. Experience has shown me in some ivory I have and have seen that the greater the mass or bulk of ivory the more likely it will have problems of cracking and warping.

Now that we are on the subject of scales - what is done to hard rubber to conserve it other than just polishing the oxidation off of them. Do they benefit from any other type of dressing?

Originally Posted by calphotography

Now that we are on the subject of scales - what is done to hard rubber to conserve it other than just polishing the oxidation off of them. Do they benefit from any other type of dressing?

Referring to hard rubber, not celluloid or acrylic, carnuba wax buffed on is what is done with mouthpieces for tobacco pipes. I imagine the same stuff would work well for hard rubber.