Polishing Horn

SamuraiDave

SamuraiDave

Joined
Apr 6, 2001
Messages
2,632
Hey,

I was wondering what yall use to put a good polish on horn.
I have everything down to steel wool, but I would really like to put the HI out of the box "can see your reflection in it" type of shine on some of the things I am working on.

How do yall do it?
 
..is jeweler's rouge. Somewhere earlier, I posted that I'd found a set of four bars at Sears. The package recommendation is Tripoli for bone, plastics and similar materials, but I didn't have anything to experiment with besides the handles, so I went with the red, which I had used before. It can be used with a Dremel tool, and a buffing drum or felt point, a buffing wheel on a bench grinder, or on a rag, applied by hand and elbow grease. The mechanical applications should be used at slow speeds, with a very light touch as they can burn the surface, or, worse, can cut into the horn if too much pressure is applied. The Dremel will polish,but can leave "tracks" across the surface that must be rubbed out by hand afterward. I used the Dremel, and then finished off with a T-shirt patch and the red rouge, to get an even polish across the surface. If you've repaired cracks, this may involve going back over them to level out super glue seams, or laha that has seeped out around the edge of the butt cap or bolster. As you get the polish with the rouge, more of the little flaws will stand out but just need a bit more light sanding or steel wool, and elbow grease. Both the horn handles now have a finish that matches the magic stone finish on the blades.
 
Dave I can't add much to what Walosi has said except there's some finer polishing agents, but I doubt you would need them. I have used a white finishing rouge, but can tell little difference in the finish between the two.
Perhaps just a bit more glossy, but hard to say......
The most important thing as Walosi has said is to be real careful if you're using any kind of power tools. They will definitely burn the horn, burn it badly and burn it before you can say, "DON'T!!!!":)
 
The buffing wheel on the bench grinder is quickest and easiest but don't go so fast you burn the horn as Wal advised.
 
with a Dremel tool are almost endless. I have some soft nylon brushes Dad used to polish tool marks on moulds. They are used with a black paste containing industrial diamond dust, and if pressure is too heavy, whey will cut like a laser, through hardened steel. The regular attachments (drum, tree-shaped points, and rubber/abrasive Cratex points) are much more useful, but will all cut gouges with too much pressure, or too much time in one spot. They can be a short-cut to polishing just about anything, but the final finish is almost always best if the medium is on a cloth, and worked down by hand. Dremel mania can lead to a drawer full of $10 carbide bits, Diamond Brite paste ($15 for a 1/4 oz tube) and many bucks worth of Cratex points that you can't do without, but only use once-twice a year. He who dies with the most toys WINS:rolleyes:
 
I know about the dremel and all the tools that go along with it. I prefer elbow grease. It is free (an important thing while you are in college), it lets you know whatever you are working with, it gives you a personal attachment to it, and most of all it takes more time and that usually means you do a better job.

Yeah, you cant do as many projects, but who cares if you are working for yourself?

I need to go get some rouge once I pay off everything. (I keep saying that and never do, one of these days.:rolleyes: )
 
Sears is not my favorite shopping place, except for their Craftsman products. IIRC the four-bar set was $9.95, but the bars were available seperately. Going that route, I would get the red, as the best all-around fine compound, and possibly the white for plastics, micartas, etc. It will put a very high polish on synthetic pistol grips (Dymond Wood, etc.) and as Bro said, possibly on the horn as well, but with hand-polishing you might be hard-put to tell the difference. I don't get quite the satisfaction, or "sense of accomplishment" out of a horn handle as I do Saatisal, but I avoid the hurry-up mistakes that power tools can bring on. I recently put an AO front sight on my 640 .357. This necessitated fitting the sight in the slot, and drilling the pin hole while in the gun. I used the Dremel, and a wire-fine metal bit, got a little pushy and broke the bit. The chuck jumped forward and scarred the barrel to the extent that some if the damage won't polish out. Most of the damage is repaired, and the sight works great. I could have used a hand drill, and could have, but the "hurry up" was too attractive. The sense of having done something well is about a million miles above having to look at something you've X@%$'d up, and just have to live with :(
 
Bro and I were just discussing via email the joys of shortcuts and "hurry up."

It's like cigarettes and whiskey and wild, wild women -- we all know better but still do it.
 
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