Hey, was going to mill out an oval and then decided to chuck a craytex cylinder up in the mill, clamped the blade with hardwood and use craytex to clean up the oval. I could put it just where I wanted it. I even thought about going with a jeweled look but it was to fine. So. used a little 600 grit folded over the tip of a small screw driver to finish clean up and then carefully re-etched. Came out good with only one little speck. I am sure come Christmas he won't notice it. No pictures as I was working on the new house yesterday and needed the space so light box got put away and now the work table is setup to cut exterior trim. Sold the house in WA. Hooray Right now knife making is either in the morning before light or after dark in the evenings. Good thing is have plenty to finish new house and have room for visitors ir you ever get to Montana Phil.
The Musk ox was nice to work with. It sands pretty easy and doesn't seam to stink as bad as most horn. I used pretty new belts up to 320 the hand sanded to 1200 and then the buffer with the pink rouge. I had to look real close and move it around in the light to make little scratches show up when sanding. I made a slack wheel attachment that is about 7 1/2 between centers with 2 3" aluminum wheels. I use the for things like rounding edges and surfaces. Little tighter than just taking off the platen on the regular arm. It also works better for sharpening with a belt.
I have been using the paint pens for marking stuff to cover my mark on damascus and it usually works pretty well. I forgot and left this one in the solution for about an hour. Nice deep etch, but it faintly etched under the paint. Need a little timer for my old age.
