Repairing scales on old folder - material?

[almasti]

Hey guys, I bought an old folding knife with cracked scales. I am going to repair them, and I have a good friend with a band saw, belt sander, drill press, etc.

My question is about the material - what do you guys recommend? I see olive wood, zebrawood, and cocobolo on ebay, among others. I am thinking about something a little more fancy, such as rams horn or bulls horn or stag bone. How hard are these materials to work with, as opposed to wood? Am I wrong in assuming that the reason that they are popular is because they are similar to wood in their ability to be sawed and sanded?

 

[NJBillK]

I would try this post in maintenence, tinkering and embellishment. Likely to get much more of a response in there.

 

[Bill DeShivs]

Horn is slightly harder to work than wood. Bone is harder. Stag is difficult because it must be worked from the back-to leave the stag "bark" surface.

 

[Phydeaux]

Bone and horn are protein rich materials. The can get kind of stinky when you grind and shape it, think burning hair. With that said, I prefer to work with wood. I usually get some hard wood flooring scraps like birdseye maple, wipe, bamboo, or ipe. A friend of mine who is a contractor/cabinet maker always has some interesting bits of scraps for me to play with.

What kind of knife are you planning to fix up?

Ric