Thread: Restore Horn

I've got a razor in that the gentleman wants me to keep the original scales on. It's an old W&B with horn scales that are actually not in horrible horrible shape. If it was one that he planned on reselling I would have told him to put new horn on it. However, it was his grandfather's and he wants to keep it as original as possible. I can't say that I blame him.

Is there any way to rejuvenate these old scales a bit? I hit them with a small piece of 2000 grit with water just to see how they'd respond and it shined up ok. Would soaking them in an oil of some sort help bring them back. Horn experts help!

I'd probably put them on the buffer with some white jewelers rouge, then buff lightly with a polishing compound like flitz or similiar.
If you don't have a buffer, try some high grit wet/dry, 2.5k and up with micromesh papers, then cut it with a compound. I'm not a horn expert, but that's what I'd do.

Neatsfoot oil is made of hooves and horn. It may not hurt an older pair of scales to have a good soaking. Sanding with higher grit paper as well as using a polishing/buffing compound works as well,

I have been slowly working on some horn scales on a W&B myself.

I will be watching this thread closely as well.

just tonight I put a small amount of 5 minute epoxy on the holes. I am letting it dry and will sand it off later. I will report back. Because I did it different than some of the forum research. I chose not to use any black die in the epoxy as I didn't have any. Hopefully it will work well.

For horn I use neatsfoot oil soak.
Then sandpaper 400/600/1500, then micromesh 1500-12000.

I got an email with a post that isn't showing up on here.....interesting and weird. Anyway, just FYI for that poster, neatsfoot oil can be found at Walmart in the shoe aisles, or in sporting goods, at a farm goods store, or at a leather store. Anywhere that sells leather boots. That's what I've always used it on; leather boots and baseball gloves....mmmmmm......leather.

Thanks for the info guys. I will buy some tomorrow and see how it works. Do you literally just pour some in a tall glass and submerge the scales in it for a couple of days?

Sorry that was me asking where to get it, but then I decided it was indeed off topic, and google would have been better. Sorry all. For creating even more confusion.

Certainly not off topic. I believe this forum exists to foster conversation about topics. Neatsfoot oil was brought up. If we were sitting around a table, you would have asked the question. Why not here? No one has to fear hijacking my threads.

+1

I bought a razor off the bay with translucent handles that looked pretty beat up. But with some extensive sanding with 400/1500/2000 and a good soaking in neatsfoot oil (as mentioned above), the scales look very nice. I was quite surprised how well this method worked.

A glass would be a bit extreme. Use a shallow pan just a little bigger then the scales. I usually give them a wet sanding up to 2K then some micromesh up to 6000 then let them soak over night in the oil. Wipe them down good and you are good to go. I sand them before I soak them so you are not washing off/drying them back out.