Help! 2020 forum knife horn cover is curling

Misplaced Hillbilly said:
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😮 Well I discovered that the pile side cover is warping significantly, and both are slightly raised at the bolsters. I had actually lost it for a couple weeks, finally found it today under my recliner. I'm thinking it's a humidity issue but how do I fix it??🤔 Thanks for any suggestions!
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Mate i cannot help, but i really hope somebody can, that looks nasty.:eek:
 
heck333 said:
Maybe try to heat it first, with a heat gun, before attempting to clamp it. I think horn is usually boiled first, or perhaps steamed, but I'd not want to risk the water damage to the metal.

Greg
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Thanks, I wouldn't be to worried about water damaging the metal, the frame is titanium and the spring and blade steel is stainless. As long as the heat stays below the temper threshold of the steels. Also it being screw construction perhaps I can remove it,boil it then clamp to a rigid flat surface.
 
Oh boy…that’s a bummer. Wish I had a solution for ya. There’s gotta be something. I bet it’s glue and clamp, or fill and grind, or recover? Just speculation. Hope you find a fix.
 
Dave I had this with a Trevor Ablett buffalo horn english ettrick ...warpage.at one end...nature of the beastly material....i got clear gel supaglue and clamped it back with glue....its been ok since for many years....i would probably prefer uv loctite glue nowadays....
Hope you find a solution
Cheers.
 
meako said:
Im intrigued...whats theory behind chapstik horn unwarping??
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I think the better response would be to use some petroleum jelly to moisten the horn to get it to go back into shape, but I probably latched onto the “or just use some chapstick” part of the reply when I was trying to find an answer to this question a few years ago.

Also intrigued, the chapstick is what I tried; lathered some on, and when I checked in a couple days, the horn had settled back into place.
 
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That unfortunate, but hopefully fixable. I think the fact that you can remove the scales might be a big advantage.

Âchillepattada Âchillepattada posted this video a while back, in response to a question I had asked about something completely different, but I remembered seeing (around the 0:30 mark) the guy take a very curved piece of horn, heat it and then clamp it between two flat pieces of metal to flatten it out for knife scales. So maybe a bit of heat and pressure could be the fix.

 
Very unpleasant. I'd be very careful of attempting to clamp it unless it's sufficiently moist, even then flaking or a break could occur. You might try soaking it in water overnight to see if here's any swelling, as you note, rust will not be a problem.

Mufflon is generally very durable stuff but it can of course vary. Is it very dry and hot where you live?

One idea might be to e-mail Viper and ask if they can recommend a course of action ?

Hope you can get it back to where it was as these are very decent knives, in my view.

Thanks, Will
 
There was considerable discussion about this issue a few years back in the Guardians thread, a couple of members, living in similar climates, reported the exact same thing. Indeed I once left a few knives on my coffee table, and the sun warped the horn, but they returned back to normal, as did the horn on the knives of the other guys. Half/Stop Half/Stop was definitely one of them, and WhittlinAway WhittlinAway I think, so you might be able to find their posts, either by using the search function on their posts within the Guardians thread, or with the thread index, which is linked to from post #1 :thumbsup:

Edit - Check out the posts on the subject by btb01 btb01 and Will Power Will Power too :thumbsup:
 
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Aye, nature of the beastie! Most horn that curves originally wants to go back to that shape. Very interested in the chapstick petroleum jelly fix.
 
Will Power said:
Very unpleasant. I'd be very careful of attempting to clamp it unless it's sufficiently moist, even then flaking or a break could occur. You might try soaking it in water overnight to see if here's any swelling, as you note, rust will not be a problem.

Mufflon is generally very durable stuff but it can of course vary. Is it very dry and hot where you live?

One idea might be to e-mail Viper and ask if they can recommend a course of action ?

Hope you can get it back to where it was as these are very decent knives, in my view.

Thanks, Will
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As Will suggested, my first course of action before trying any home remedies would be to contact the maker. If they can't offer a DIY plan, maybe they will fix it for you. Worth a shot.
And as David mentioned ... re-cover with wood or bone or something. A re-cover with horn might have the same thing happen again in time.
I'm leery of all horn except those makers who use horn tips. Solid horn tips aren't pressed or pinned flat like the hollow parts of horn during process. So tips are always installed in a more natural state.
 
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