Buffalo Horn Handles?

[Lenny]

Just picked up a Mooremaker buffalo horn Stockman
It's an absolutely gorgeous knife.
However, seems that the buffalo horn is quite soft.
It scratched up riding next to my SAK in my pocket.
So I took the Dremel to it, but that's tricky.
I moved too slowly with the rotating buffing wheel and burned a section of the horn till it turned white.
I've buffed it mostly out, but in the process, I took the beautiful black sheen of the horn down a few gloss levels.
Anybody have experience with polishing buffalo horn?
What rotating speeds and what polishing compounds?
Thanks,
Lenny

 

[Rod Neep]

The answer here is simple brass polish. What I use is Dura-Glit or Brasso wadding, and it works a treat in bringing back the high shine on "soft" materials such as buffalo horn, ivory, pearl, mammoth, etc.


Regards
Rod

 

[JD Mandrell]

The answer here is simple brass polish. What I use is Dura-Glit or Brasso wadding, and it works a treat in bringing back the high shine on "soft" materials such as buffalo horn, ivory, pearl, mammoth, etc.


Regards
Rod

Glad to hear you say that Rod, I used Brasso to put a nice clean shine back on the Winterbottom bone of a 1940's Queen jackknife and it did a nice job but some thought I shouldn't have used Brasso.

BTW the knife was found stuck in an old air conditioner and the blades had scratches from sharpening, so it was by no means "mint".

Heck of a good user though!

 

[Lenny]

The answer here is simple brass polish. What I use is Dura-Glit or Brasso wadding, and it works a treat in bringing back the high shine on "soft" materials such as buffalo horn, ivory, pearl, mammoth, etc.


Regards
Rod

Thank you so much Rod.
Now why didn't I think of that.
Lenny

 

[Gossman Knives]

You have to be careful when buffing any horn or bone. It burns very easily. If you have a bench motor or grinder you can get soft buffing wheels at the hardware store. Get the white compound. Load the buff with the white compound and keep the knife moving while buffing. If you hold it in one spot to long it will burn. Most water buffalo horn has white streaks in it. That might be the white you are seeing. The only way to get back the original shine is to buff it on a buffer. I use buff horn alot on my knives.
Scott

 

[Rod Neep]

Polishing by hand using Brasso wadding.... no matter how hard I try... I can't go fast enough to burn it

This is the sort of finish that one can get on Mammoth Ivory for example. First with very fine garnet paper, and then Brasso for 30 seconds by hand. (This is a Case Seahorse Whittler that I re-handled)

 

[Lenny]

Unfortunately, this particular Stockman is gonna be my EDC user.
And I keep it in the same pocket as my SAK.
Guess I'll just have to get used to it being scratched.
Every once in a while, though, I'll probably get the urge to buff the major stuff out.
Thanks for all the tips guys.
Lenny

 

[Lenny]

The answer here is simple brass polish. What I use is Dura-Glit or Brasso wadding, and it works a treat in bringing back the high shine on "soft" materials such as buffalo horn, ivory, pearl, mammoth, etc.


Regards
Rod

Amazing how well Brasso works.
The buffalo horn is now shiney enough to see myself in.
I almost hate to use the knife now.
Thanks again Rod.
Lenny

 

[CRH]

Polishing by hand using Brasso wadding.... no matter how hard I try... I can't go fast enough to burn it

Rod, I've seen that knife on the other forum. I see you still haven't been able to remove those funny scratches off the bolsters .

 

[Bastid]

Excellent looking job Rod!

As an aside. I hope everyone feels free to mention other forums and link to them as long as the intent is to share info within this forum.

There are a lot of good people and friends on other forums. I hope all of you take the time to visit Bill Ruple's forum on knifeforums. He is a great guy and his knives are just as great.

I personally do not hold to the idea of forums seperating knife nuts. That is nothing short of silly.

 

[TAH]

Talk about different strokes. About a year ago, when I received my Moore Maker Buffalo Horn knife, I thought the horn was too shiney almost to the point that it looked like plastic. So I taped the bolsters and took some #0000 steel wool and lightly buffed the horn to remove the high shine. Then I applied a light coat of mineral oil to bring out and enhance the color. Now the handle has a very fine, satin finish and to me, it looks more rich and natural. It also made the grain in the horn more visable.

Best,
Tom