got my custom Buck 110 asian horn...question...

[Mick57]

Ok, thanks guys. Here are a few more pics just for fun.

You done good. Mines set up the same way. Only difference is mine has a palm swell. It's probably my favorite custom 110, although my elk handle & stag 110's from the Custom shop are right up there too.

 

[chickentrax]

Correct on the first point, and try to prove the second

There was a fascinating story in the Air Force News back in the mid-80's about the search for Charles Nungessers' L'Oiseau Blanc in the Maine woods...he and his navigator disappeared after flying the Atlantic non-stop back in 1927...two weeks before Lindbergh! That was during Prohibition, and [supposedly] the only inhabitants of the deep Maine woods were illegal loggers and bootleggers (running down the Champaign Route from Canada)...It's been theorized that their biplane crashed and the two aviators were quietly buried by loggers/bootleggers...Curiously, a Navy sub-hunter with their MAD found an old long-abandoned lumbermill with a French WW1 aeroplane engine for power...

 

[hunterlar3]

I think it is flawed and you should sell it to me discounted.

Seriously, that looks like a fine piece of craftsmanship right there. I almost ordered a custom 110 last year in BG-42 and now I wish I would have. I love my Military in BG-42.

Guess I've got to add another to the want list.

 

[mainewoodsman]

There was a fascinating story in the Air Force News back in the mid-80's about the search for Charles Nungessers' L'Oiseau Blanc in the Maine woods...he and his navigator disappeared after flying the Atlantic non-stop back in 1927...two weeks before Lindbergh! That was during Prohibition, and [supposedly] the only inhabitants of the deep Maine woods were illegal loggers and bootleggers (running down the Champaign Route from Canada)...It's been theorized that their biplane crashed and the two aviators were quietly buried by loggers/bootleggers...Curiously, a Navy sub-hunter with their MAD found an old long-abandoned lumbermill with a French WW1 aeroplane engine for power...

The Maine woodsman tended to be very ingenious in the way items were put to use. Maybe they found the airplane engine and put it to work Heck, a true Yankee don't throw nothing away - LOL

During prohibition, certainly the Maine woodsman knew the ways in and out of the state to obtain alcohol, heck in the late 70's I was working & living in Northern Maine and I knew several border crossings that were unmanned. You drive from Canada into the USA and sign into a log book...

Far more money was made by ship captains running rum into the numerous harbors and inlets along the Maine coastline. According to one estimate, Maine has 3,500 miles of coastline... the darn revenuers could never patrol that much water

 

[Buckaholic]

Mick...your knife is awesome. It appears to me to be oakie doke. But I'm not handling it.
Here are my Buffs. I love 'em. The white is natural.

.

 

[Rocinante]

Ok, maybe I'm just the little kid who noticed that the king didn't have any clothes on......or maybe I just have bad taste.

But I think the knife (the handles where those little imperfections show up) looks like it's been dragged behind a truck for a few miles.

Of course, if that's the way it's SUPPOSED to look.....good enough.

But if I saw it on e-Bay I'd assume it was a fake and hit the back button.

Boy, I guess I'm a bad judge of beauty.

 

[jb4570]

Ok, maybe I'm just the little kid who noticed that the king didn't have any clothes on......or maybe I just have bad taste.

But I think the knife looks like it's been dragged behind a truck for a few miles.

Of course, if that's the way it's SUPPOSED to look.....good enough.

But if I saw it on e-Bay I'd assume it was a fake and hit the back button.

Boy, I guess I have no taste at all.

Hi Rocinante,

When natural materials are used there will always be variation to the color, texture, shape....and on and on. Before one orders a natural material a quick study should be made of those kinds of variance for the specific material chosen. If you see that there could be a variance you don't care for....specify that prior to ordering or choose some other material. Remember, us knife collector types are PICKY .

Hey guys those Buff horn handles are way cool....thanks for sharing the pic's.

jb4570

 

[Buckaholic]

Ok, maybe I'm just the little kid who noticed that the king didn't have any clothes on......or maybe I just have bad taste.

But I think the knife (the handles where those little imperfections show up) looks like it's been dragged behind a truck for a few miles.

Of course, if that's the way it's SUPPOSED to look.....good enough.

But if I saw it on e-Bay I'd assume it was a fake and hit the back button.

Boy, I guess I'm a bad judge of beauty.

The only thing I don't care for on that knife, and to each his own, is the jigging (cuts) on the corners near the forward "Designer Choice" side bolster. I would smooth that out. But I don't have the knife to see the impact of doing so (would it be ground too low to mate the bolster?).

As for the white swirls. I recall when I got my Kalinga in the pic above. The white kine bummed me. Then I realized that the caribou I used to see in SE Asia had white "stains" on their horns. As a kid I always thought they were just dirty or water marks. Thanks to the gents here I learned that it is a natrural variation.

Have now come to appreciate the swirls for their individuality...like the different grains from the same wood....no two are alike.

I didn't even care for the jigged Buff scales until I got my 110BuckCote (BuffCote). It is one of my favorites now. Just beautiful to look at.

Guess it's the Ginger or Mary Ann gig again...

 

[Rocinante]

I agree. I understand what's causing the odd look....as though the handles were damaged. It's where the white layers are.

For me, the only way I could use the buff handles is if they were smooth.....actually, before tonight I hadn't seen anything but smooth in the buff.

The material does not seem to lend itself to jigging.

Or is it just certain pieces that have more imperfections? The other pics I've seen here tonight didn't look so damaged......that fixed-blade, for example, didn't look as though it were damaged. Probably because it didn't have many of the white streaks.

 

[Hawkeye5]

Let me use it a while and i'll get a lot of deer blood on them scales.

Them you want see the white or black.LOL

Jeff

 

[okbohn]

Looks great....pretty sure that's also jigged.

Just did a little research--yes it is jigged--but it is jigged impala horn.

Just thought you'd want to know--in any event, the Buck looks pretty close to this which is real, but jigged none the less.

Good call. Glad to learn it.

 

[Mick57]

Mick...your knife is awesome. It appears to me to be oakie doke. But I'm not handling it.
Here are my Buffs. I love 'em. The white is natural.

.

Not mine....it belongs to Gary007. I'm sure he thanks you.

 

[Buckaholic]

Not mine....it belongs to Gary007. I'm sure he thanks you.

Oh yeah. I saw your reply with the pics and got cornfused.
Thanks...

 

[Mick57]

The only thing I don't care for on that knife, and to each his own, is the jigging (cuts) on the corners near the forward "Designer Choice" side bolster. I would smooth that out. But I don't have the knife to see the impact of doing so (would it be ground too low to mate the bolster?).

As for the white swirls. I recall when I got my Kalinga in the pic above. The white kine bummed me. Then I realized that the caribou I used to see in SE Asia had white "stains" on their horns. As a kid I always thought they were just dirty or water marks. Thanks to the gents here I learned that it is a natrural variation.

Have now come to appreciate the swirls for their individuality...like the different grains from the same wood....no two are alike.

I didn't even care for the jigged Buff scales until I got my 110BuckCote (BuffCote). It is one of my favorites now. Just beautiful to look at.

Guess it's the Ginger or Mary Ann gig again...

Funny you should mention that jigging next to the bolster. When the one I had ordered arrived, the jigging was ALL the way to the bolsters, so much of the handle was under the lip of the bolster. In my eyes, not good at all. I emailed Joe H. & explained that I thought the jigging should stop about an inch or so from the bolsters. Joe said to send it back & they'd make it up that way. And he had them add the palm swell that I requested. When it came back, I couldn't have been more pleased. As I told Joe at the time, they definitely hit a Grand Slam with it. It was dead on how I was hoping it would be! Wish I could post pics, but I'm unable to....no camera or scanner.

 

[Super Dave]

Love the jigged buffalo horns. I have some plain, flat buffalo horn scales, and would like to try making the jigged grooves in them. Anybody have an idea how this is done? Looks like you could use an oscillating sander with a small diameter spindle to make the grooves. How about the lines inside the indentations? Hand engrave with a rotary tool? Anyone know how its done? Thanks for any info - I'll post a photo of my rehandled 110 after I figure out how to hand jig the scales.

 

[Mick57]

Just did a little research--yes it is jigged--but it is jigged impala horn.

Just thought you'd want to know--in any event, the Buck looks pretty close to this which is real, but jigged none the less.

Good call. Glad to learn it.

Glad to help out. Jigged or not, you have a great looking knife.

 

[chickentrax]

Anybody have an idea how this is done?

I read a thread over at talkblade.info on it some time back...The poster used a ball-end burr in a die grinder and hand-jigged it...that one did not have the grooves the Buck jigged horm has...I'd guess that is a long-flute high-speed burr with a custom ground profile...the Buck scales look like the jigging was done from each side in turn, and since the jigs are more or less straight, my procedure to get a similar finish would be to mount the ground fluting tool in a mill or even a drill press and push the scale against it (at high speed)...a router in a router table would probably work, too...it shouldn't be too hard to get the grooves ground into a straight fluted router bit, say 1/4" dia, and mount the scale on an angled wood block sideways and just keep cutting the grooves at measured intervals...

I have the equipment to try it, but I don't have any Water Buffalo horn...

And of course, there is the inertia of apathy to consider, too...

...Groovin'...on a Sunday afternoon...

 

[Mike Kerins]

...Groovin'...on a Sunday afternoon...

Hey Trax....wake up! It's Wenesday afternoon already! :jerkit:

 

[chickentrax]

Hey Trax....wake up! It's Wenesday afternoon already! :jerkit:

...Sorry!...Just thinking out loud...

Planning how I would jig a Buffalo horn...have to cut the raw scale about 3/16" to 1/4" thick...cut/sand it to fit the liner lengthwise...rough out the shape sideways...contour it from bolster to bolster...mark where the rockerpin will be...then make that my datum point...and use a white grease pencil to lay out where I want the jig grooves to be...then use double sided tape to fasten the scale to a wood or more likely Nylon block...use a Dremel cut-off wheel mounted in my die grinder to cut grooves in a long counter trimming router bit...then pull the block-mounted-scale towards me on my router table...thus cutting/jigging the scale...similar to Bucks' jigging...

I'm guessing the jigging *should* look a bit haphazard; just as natural jigging does...or so I suppose; I don't have anything naturally jigged...

OK! I've laid it all out...now DarrylS can try it!!!

 

[DarrylS]

...Sorry!...Just thinking out loud...

I'm guessing the jigging *should* look a bit haphazard; just as natural jigging does...or so I suppose; I don't have anything naturally jigged...

OK! I've laid it all out...now DarrylS can try it!!!

...Oh man Trax...That sounds like it would work out pretty good. I wouldn't make the grooves in the router bit very uniform either...a bit haphazard, so to speak, would indeed make them appear more natural as you've mentioned. If I had a router table I'd definitely try it out on a piece of plastic or even some "trial" scales made of any kind of wood. Spray paint 'em a gloss charcoal or black afterwards to approximate the color of buffalo and see how it looked. I may have to make a Harbor Freight run this weekend to see if they have a cheapie router table...