sharp buttcap

Skeletor

Skeletor

Joined
Aug 31, 2002
Messages
544
The horn handle on my BAS must have shrunken because the buttcap sticks out past the horn all around the handle. I want to hear what you guys have to say before I go filing or sanding it.
 
Suggestion #1: Use hooflex or some other lanolin-based product to moisturize the horn. Glop the stuff on there, hit it with a hair dryer to open up the pores in the horn and soften the hooflex, and leave it for at least 24 hrs so that the horn absorbs as much as possible. It might swell back up and fix the problem.

Suggestion #2: Sand it down with some 400-600 grit sandpaper. I usually sand down the top point of the handle to round it down so it doesn't dig into my palm. It's easy to do, and it works well. You can polish it up afterwards with progressively finer grits of wet-dry paper.

--Josh
 
If you do wind up sanding the horn wear a mask. You don't want to breathe horn or antler dust.
 
skeletor:

I have the same problem on mine. Hooflex works OK, but its still slightly larger than the actual horn. I havent taken a file or sandpaper to it yet b/c i havent had the time, but definitely try hooflex first (i didnt do the hairdryer tho, and since i live in an apt full of ROTC guys, there isnt a hair dryer in sight).

quad
 
It's very humid here in Virginia but the house is air conditioned so it's bone dry indoors. Maybe I'll try leaving it outside for a while since I have used hooflex on numerous occasions, but without the blowdryer trick. The handle has already been sanded with 500 grit since I filled some cracks with superglue. Believe it or not, I'm not smoothing it up any. The 500 grit feels great, the horn really grips my hands. I used hooflex while sanding and if you sand with the grain it actually looks pretty decent.
 
Wrap a layer of masking tape around the horn next to the buttcap if you're worried about scratching the horn. Then carefully take a flat file to the buttcap. Then smooth with some fine grit paper like you used on the horn.

Steve
 
Years ago, I read in an an old formulary that soaking ivory knife handles in olive oil for several hours would keep them from shrinking and cracking. It's worked for me so far with horn, antler, ivory, and other natural handle materials. I have a tall jar of the stuff that I keep for the purpose. Don't use extra-virgin, save it for salads.
Brian
 
I have the same problem with one of mine and just picked up an array of wet/dry sandpaper to address the issue. Hope it works. I sanded on the horn a little bit the other night with some #600 wet/dry and agree that the result is pretty good. I may just have slovenly tastes, but the #600 finish looks more like horn and less like plastic to me. On the other hand, I'm not a big fan of the Magic Stone finish either, since it makes the thing look more like a piece of truck bumper than truck spring IMHO.
 
I know exactly what you mean about the horn, I really like the new look and especially feel. Has anyone blued their blades? If so, I'd love to see what it looks like.
 
Skeletor:

Last night I gave my horn handle a full #600 treatment and evened up the buttcap pretty well. I used a folded-up piece across the grain/buttcap like a shoeshine rag and the result was perfect alignment and no burrs.

I don't know thing one about water buffalo horn, but my speculation is that once it is cut off the beast it will shrink a certain amount over time as a matter of course. If so, then a certain amount of sanding is in order to keep everything a smooth fit. Smooth probably isn't all that necessary on a display piece, but the lack of it is likely to cause blisters in use.

I tried considerable hooflex on this khuk before resorting to sandpaper, and while it glossed up the finish very well, it did not cause the scales to plump up significantly.

In the next few days I am planning to put some Birchwood Casey Super Blue on this khuk and will post some pics if the result isn't too embarassing.
 
Did you put hooflex on the sandpaper? If you do that the handle maintains its color, just not the luster.

Now I need to decide if I want to try to put a convex edge on and if I want a satin finish on the blade. I've already decided on a quickdraw sheath for it.
 
Trust me, you want a convex edge. If you haven't seen Pen's sharpening CD yet I'll burn a copy for you, it's very very helpful. You can get an amazing edge using sandpaper and a rubber sanding block, it doesn't take sophisticated equipment, although that certainly makes it go quicker.
 
That settles that, I'll put a convex edge on. My dad does plenty of automotive painting so I have the paper and the blocks.
 
i blued the blade on my 18 inch ak using birchwood casey's super blue kit (runs around 15 bucks i think). it worked, but the sheath is pretty tight, and the blueing is starting to wear off where the blade rubs up against the wood. ive got to take a tree out today so ill let you know how the blueing holds up to that.
 
Well, this is how my khuk turned out with Super Blue. It is o.k. but the finish doesn't seem like it will hold up as well as mustard. The handle isn't shiney anymore either, but I'm liking this thing better every time I pick it up. The scales had receded enough that it was necessary to file down the tang a little bit to even things up, but now everything is perfectly smooth.

One thing I found out while rinsing off Super Blue is that the wetter sanded horn gets, the more non-slip the grip becomes.

Also, this khuk has a slack-belt ground, leather stropped edge as prescribed in Pen's sharpening CD. It appears to be reaching light-saber status too, with the ability to cut things without touching them. While working on it, my finger started leaking a little blood on the bench and since I was being way too careful to have cut myself the thing must have nipped me from a distance.
 

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