Thread: An experiment in resurrecting the ancient Horn scale animal.

I end up with a lot of very old horn scales that I'd really rather fix than throw out. But some of them have huge chunks missing. I've been thinking about that and how to fix it, and here's my first experiment.

Begin with scales.



This was an old set that I chose because A) I didn't have a razor to go in them, B) they present a worst-case scenario in that they've got a significant amount of translucency and C) they're in bad shape.

I made them worse off by using a burr head on the Dremel and gouging a huge chunk out.

Next, I made some horn powder.




(Thanks for the donor horn, Ogershok!)

Next I poured the powder into the gouge, dripped CA glue on that, then sprinkled more horn powder on top until everything got soaked up.



From there it was just a matter of doing normal CA coats, like you'd do on wood. (coat,sand,coat,sand,coat,sand,coat,and a one and a two, come on, everybody dance!)

The final result.




I did a sloppy job on the finish because I'd already gotten my answer. This does work, but not quite as well as I'd like. Later I'll experiment with blending between regions better. Another technique I want to try is using bits of hair, which if I'm cunning, should let me mimic the warp and weft of the growth pattern.

In the meantime, this is better than nothing.

I do something similar with Ivory,mix up a glob of clear epoxy,mix with Ivory dust,use as a filler.

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

I do something similar with Ivory,mix up a glob of clear epoxy,mix with Ivory dust,use as a filler.

Yeah, it was reading about the ivory repair technique that made me think of this.

I suppose if I'd matched the donor horn to the scales better I would've gotten a better result.

Not exactly the same but here is what I did for a bad ding.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/custo...h-attempt.html

Tim

I'll do similar. I use epoxy since like slower set time, with a little more filling ability. I also add a little black due or pigment to the epoxy, then add my horn dust. It is not as white of gray that way. Leaves a darker black, with a good match of texture to the rest of the horn.

When a section of horn broken of, I'll cut my donnor horn section to fit like a puzzle piece. I'll mix the horn slurry with pigment and glue the section on. It is not an invisible seam, but comes as a clean patch.

Brownells.com

Acra-glass Gel, in Brown or Black

Fill, sand, polish voila'

Originally Posted by dirtychrome

I'll do similar. I use epoxy since like slower set time, with a little more filling ability. I also add a little black due or pigment to the epoxy, then add my horn dust. It is not as white of gray that way. Leaves a darker black, with a good match of texture to the rest of the horn.

When a section of horn broken of, I'll cut my donnor horn section to fit like a puzzle piece. I'll mix the horn slurry with pigment and glue the section on. It is not an invisible seam, but comes as a clean patch.

It was getting this razor that got me off my butt to finally try this fix. There are a couple dings out of the pressed ornament that'll need filling in. For that one, I'll probably be going the epoxy route, or the Acra-gel Glen linked to. Can't easily shape the horn-dust/CA mix.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Brownells.com

Acra-glass Gel, in Brown or Black

Fill, sand, polish voila'

Awesome! Do you have any pics of it in use?

I am a fan of removing steps to achieve the same results. Especially steps that raise up a burning hair stink.

I've continued to experiment with this, and as of tonight I think I've perfected the technique.

The first change is that I now drip tiny amounts of CA into the cavity, put a dollop of horn shavings on, compress it, put another drop of glue, add more horn, more glue, wait and sand. This gets me really good, dark fill with just a few light speckles.

But to make it really perfect (at least on black horn) I then brush on a few coats of India ink and then coat in CA. The end result is really sturdy and quite lovely. I'll get pictures up when I'm finished with the batch I'm working on.

(getting escutcheon plates off and back on is a bit fidgety)