Buffalo horn strength?

G

Guy Thomas

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Feb 1, 2000
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I'm putting the handle on a stick tang Scandinavian style blade and I want to use a 1" section of buffalo horn right up against the shoulders of the ricasso. I've never worked with buffalo horn before, is it strong enough to resist splitting as it is pushed against the shoulders of the ricasso or should I put a metal spacer first then put the buffalo horn against that?

For that matter how durable is buffalo horn for a using knife? The rest of the handle will be stabilized amboynia burl with nickle silver/black kydex spacers between the wood and the horn.
 
GUY!
Goodtaseeya. From the bit of playing with horn that I've done, it seems pretty safe in wide cross section, but chips out on corners more acute than 90 degrees. I'd smooth out everything, and use that metal spacer you mentioned. Best to be cautious with the natural materials, and a spacer really isn't that much more work.
 
Hey Oz, good to see you posting again! I'm leaning toward the metal spacer up against the shoulders of the ricasso. Alternatively I'm thinking about using a section of the same amboynia burl up front and using some nickle silver spacers between it and the main body of the handle, that way the handle would be all stabilized wood I wouldn't have to worry about one section of the handle reacting to moisture.
 
So I still have a couple of slabs just sitting there. I'm told like many other materials - its quite a bug to use since it hangs around and causes irritation. But it looks great. I'm more worried about the shrinkage and warpage with temperature and humidity. However, I think horn is just about right in terms of hardness differential when abutted against most softer stabilised woods like Amboyna so you don't get too much undercutting whcih finishing.

I'm more interested in the Kydex spacers - I didn't think they could be used that way and they of course go all soft and wobbly when heated - I also can't get eopxy to stick to Kydex and wondered if that would cause problems for adhesion.

Any ideas about that ?

Cheers. Jason.
 
Might try contact cement just on the spacers, then go to epoxy for rest of it. Just an idea, haven't played with kydex
 
Actually it turns out the kydex is a bit thicker than I wanted to use. It had just ocured to me that is could be used as washer/spacer material after someone had mentioned it here on the forums. Sounds like it could be a little tricky. I'm going to use the vulcanized spacer material instead.
 
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