Just learned a lesson...

A.McPherson

A.McPherson

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Jan 27, 2012
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so you know how you can super glue scales together and then shape them, then you stick em in the freezer for a bit, then whack em with a rubber mallet to get em apart?

Well that may work on some things, but don’t do it with horn scales. Yeah it’s permanent.

The horn shatters before the superglue breaks loose.
 
Acetone. I have used acetone on horn with no negative effects, but to be sure, try it in a small area to make sure there is no stabilizer or whatever in the horn. then submerge scales in acetone for a min or two, pry apart gently.

In order of pref for removing CA:
Heat if the material will take it
Acetone
Tiny drops and a thin blade

Consider hot glue with a tiny gap too. It works well and will tease apart nicely.

And on a totally unrelated note, for glue-ups that are not conducive to clamping, a couple of drops of CA in the corners will do the job nicely with minimal strength reduction (I probably wouldn't do this with scales).
 
Horn has some natural oils in it and may be dissolved by more than a quick wipe with acetone or alcohol. That may make the look and color change.
Heat above 150F would be another bad thing.

With tiny dots of CA, when you are done just slip an X-acto blade between the tang and scale and it pops right off at room temp.
 
As has been stated " A couple tiny drops".

Also I place the dots at one end more so I can use the other end as leverage to break the bond.
 
I did use two dots, but they were pretty big. Plus I had surfaced them with a granite block and sand paper, so they were pretty much perfectly flat.
I have a feeling that the CA glue went from two dots to coating the whole surface.
Lessons learned!
I’ll try the acetone, but I think I’ll probably be starting over...
 
A.McPherson said:
I did use two dots, but they were pretty big. Plus I had surfaced them with a granite block and sand paper, so they were pretty much perfectly flat.
I have a feeling that the CA glue went from two dots to coating the whole surface.
Lessons learned!
I’ll try the acetone, but I think I’ll probably be starting over...
Click to expand...

Do not use the thin stuff, that will wick all over the surface.

Use the thick gel kind. I use Bob Smith Max Cure
 
Yeah I used the thin stuff, cause I have a whole bucket full of the stuff...

and the acetone didn’t work, nor did the CA glue un-cure stuff I have for doing CA handles... sigh.

I think I’m just goin to use the horn as-is and drill/scrape like you would a wooden handle block. Any reason why that would be a bad idea?
 
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