Horn Handle Question

B

bismark77

Joined
Jun 24, 2004
Messages
217
My new 10" BDC has horn handle scales. Kumar did a beautiful job shaping them, and they have a very nice swell and flair.

When I got the knife the handle looked jet black, in contrast to my Khukri House BAS (purchased in Thamel in 1997) which has beautiful creamy white marbling in the horn. That KH BAS, btw, has seen a lot of hard use, and has not had any cracks in the horn, despite the fact that I had never used lanolin on it before I started hanging out in the cantina...

I whiped my BDC down with some mineral spirits and got a lot of rouge out of the handle. Now I can see the fibrous structure of the horn, and a tantalizing peak of some nice light colored grain which appears to be underneath the surface. When I shine a bright light on it I can also see quite a bit of red tint left in the surface. So I need to get even more rouge out of it!

What can I do to bring out the grain and figure of the horn? I don't want to start sanding and buffing until I get an expert opinion! I figure if anyone knows how to handle bison horn, it's you guys :)
 
I found that lanolin brings out grain in horn. Hooflex it seems doesn't have enough to do this. I have some boot goop that seems to have more lanolin in it and brings out some of the grain.

I goop the handle and wrap it in a sandwich bag for a few months.

I can't prove scientifically it but it seems to work.
 
I haven't tried lanolin on it yet, because it's hard to get all the lanolin out if you need to treat it with somehting else. I grew up shepherding, so I have an ample supply of "pure" lanolin (97% lanolin, 2% loose wool fibers, 1% "other") that I can try.

Should I attempt to get the rest of the rouge out first? Or is that a losing battle?
 
I've found that the goop softens the rogue somewhat. After gooping you might find that the rogue is easier to remove.
 
Ferguson had this to say about removing rogue on another thread. I thought I'd post it here in order to look smart...

"Some soap and water with an old toothbrush will clean much of the red rouge out of the handle."

:)
 
I picked up a couple of cheap bull horns recently.
Rubbed them down with an ample amount of olive oil
inside & out.
Put them in a low heat oven (~150F) for a couple of hours.
Let cool in oven.
When they came out the oil had penetrated well
& the grain was very apparent.
White areas of horn had become translucent.
A week later horn still shows 80% of the benefit,
another application or two of oil would help.

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I was thinking about trying the toothbrush with toothpaste, since it gets a good foaming action. I'll scrub it down good and then goop it up. I won't try anything else until I see how that looks.

Do you heat/liquify the lanolin and/or warm the handle? Or do you just goop it on?
 
I've tried both.

The heat melts the goop and probably gets into little cracks and pores. This is probably a good thing. For storage I'll just goop on the goop and leave it.

Heating speeds up the appearance of grain. At least on mine. The appearance of grain may depend on moonspots. I dunno. I use a hair dryer.
 
bismark77 said:
I figure if anyone knows how to handle bison horn, it's you guys :)
Click to expand...
Nope, sorry Bismark.:D ;) Doubt if anyone here knows how to do anything with bison horn with maybe the exception of myself, well some others here could no doubt make some utensils from 'em.:rolleyes:
A bison bison horn, North American Buffalo, is hollow like a cow's horn and only fit for utensils such as spoons and drinking cups. The buffalo in India and Nepal has mostly a solid horn if it isn't solid all the way through from what I understand. Don't really know anything about them, just that they're a helluva lot thicker and heavier than bison horns and make nice handles.
 
I didn't say American bison (which I know is "bison bison"). I should have known I was walking into that one though!

I was referring to Asian Buffalo.

I assumed the horn for my handle came from Nepalese dairy buffalo...although I guess they may well buy their horn from one of the big Indian suppliers... The wild buffalo of India are referred to as Bison, aren't they? That may not be the correct term--I don't know. When I've been in Nepal most people seemed to call them "Bison" or "Bisi." We may have to quiz Bill about the correct term--since both my Nepali and Hindi are very weak, who knows what I might misunderstand!
 
Gee Bismark. I was mostly teasing you, forgot you hadn't been here long enough not to take me too seriously.:rolleyes: ;) :D

At least you made me laugh out loud, something I hadn't done yet today.:D
 
Oh, I knew you were teasing me. No offront was perceived! In fact, after seeing all the serious replies from Bruise in this thread it was a relief to be teased! It was starting to feela little like the twilight zone or something.

By the way, taking me seriously is usually a mistake. :)

I am, however, always up to an etymological discussion--thus my rambling reply about animal names. I think it's ironic: everyone and their brother seem to make the opposite mistake, but I always have to be the oddball...

Inquiring minds (mine) want to know: Am I the only one in the habit of calling Asian Buffalo "Bison?"
 
I guess that's the "can't pick your friend's nose" doctrine? Ah, the insights of the pre-adolescent philosphers philosophers never cease to amaze! :p

Ok, it's been a long day. I'm officially out of whitty replies. (those who read the above have already figured that out) :D

Thanks for all the help on my horn question. You guys really do know it all!

...and you make me laugh, which I needed today!
 
bismark77 said:
You guys really do know it all!
Click to expand...
He called the Cantina-mates "know-it-all"s !

The Cantina is officially offended.

Reparations require a Kagas Katne be shipped
to each offendee
by the offender
immediately.

Failure will engender a karda dual at 99 paces.
 
I assume you mean a duel. I accept. Kardas at dawn!

No wait, I have to duel everyone?! I'm not all that good with a karda at 99 meters... Hmm...

Uncle Bill, I'm in a real fix here. Can I get a volume discount on Kages Katnes?
 
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