Straight Balistol Didn't Get It Done

self depreciating is when the cowboy traverses the town, shooting 100 villains along the way with his 6-gun, some at 200 yds., without reloading, and finally kills the main baddy in a knock down brawl while maintaining his hair-do, rescues the fair maiden while the sheeple of the town applaud and she says 'my hero!' and leans over for a kiss... and he says, "shucks, ma'm, twern't nuthin'" and he then kisses his horse instead and rides off into the sunset.

it's also the black knight in monty python and the holy grail being de-limbed and shouting that it was only a flesh wound.
[video=youtube;zKhEw7nD9C4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKhEw7nD9C4[/video]
 
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Classic! My wife was in the other room and heard that. She recognized it immediately. The Holy Grail and The Life of Brian are probably my favorite films ever. Probably seen them a thousand times and they still crack me up. My wife will have a British accent all day now that she heard that! Love the coconuts for the horses.
 
my favourite bits are the french castle and the holy handgrenade. :)

i fart in your general direction.
 
kronckew said:
my favourite bits are the french castle and the holy handgrenade. :)

i fart in your general direction.
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..your mother was a hamster and your father smells of elderberry. ..as they catapult cows over the wall.:thumbup:

[video=youtube;A8yjNbcKkNY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8yjNbcKkNY[/video]

and the Trojan Rabbit! ...whoooo gets in the rabbit? English kiniggits! Dang I gotta watch it again:D

[video=youtube;69iB-xy0u4A]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69iB-xy0u4A[/video]

ooops...not in the cantina anymore am I.
 
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yup, we're not in kansas anymore. best get back on track before we get moderated. i hear they use 500 lb. laser guided bombs.
 
Officially gave up on the oil bath. A week of Balistol rubs & a week of full oil immersion.
If I didn't know better I'd think not only did the horn not grow back at all, it almost feels like it shrunk on both knives.

Really think the Hooflex has a chance, at this point?
Locally, looks like it's $20 & I'm not sure it'd be worth that on a gamble.
Denis
 
DPris said:
Officially gave up on the oil bath. A week of Balistol rubs & a week of full oil immersion.
If I didn't know better I'd think not only did the horn not grow back at all, it almost feels like it shrunk on both knives.

Really think the Hooflex has a chance, at this point?
Locally, looks like it's $20 & I'm not sure it'd be worth that on a gamble.
Denis
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You will likely never have to buy another bottle of Hooflex again. I prefer it to mineral oil even tho it is mostly mineral oil. Some say they cant tell the difference but I can. It seems to leave a more plastic shiny like finish on the surface that last longer than mineral oil. Also seems to make the surface swell slightly. Probably nothing measurable like what your looking for but worth a $20 lifetime investment to me. Small hairline cracks disappear completely sometimes. I use it to wipe my entire collection down and leave it for several days or even a few weeks then wipe the excess off when you get around to it. So far zero new cracks over the last few years and many cracks are gone.
 
I just had a thought, I know here comes another headache........

Anybody ever use Kroil. It's a penetrating oil, than seems thinner than water. For stuck bolts and cleaning messed up barrels and such it's the ticket. I know it has to be loaded with petroleum products and might be bad for the laha possibly but as far as soaking into the wood it would get in there if anything will.

I'm just not certain if it would be harmful.

I need to look at the can and check out the ingredients. I ain't no chemist so might not even tell me much but it was a thought. You know exercise the cranial cavity or lose it.
 
Probably would not try Kroil on wood or horn, that one I think is better off staying with metallic applications.

After weeks of Ballistoling & mineraling here, took the last knife out of the MO bath today.

The only discernible sign of ANY expansion at all on any is that a slightly loose bolster on one wood handle has tightened up.
Otherwise, no help on the horns or the woods.

What was listed as Satisal on the M-43 has stopped seeping.
Same wood (in appearance) on the CAK has mostly stopped.
Different wood (almost a dark oak in appearance) on the Chitlangi Bowie may be wet for months. :)
Horns back to being shiny & black.

Trying to talk myself into Hooflex.
How's it applied- coated & left to sit, rubbed into the horn, heated up with a hairdryer?
Denis
 
DPris said:
.... Trying to talk myself into Hooflex. How's it applied- coated & left to sit, rubbed into the horn, heated up with a hairdryer? Denis
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Hooflex comes in two forms, a liquid and a cream. First time I ordered some, the vendor sent me the liquid by mistake. The bottle top was loose and the package arrived in a terrible mess. The vendor replaced it with the cream version. You can get it from Amazon or other online sources.

Personally I prefer the cream because it is less messy and easier to apply to something small like a knife handle. (The reverse might be true if you were using Hooflex on a horse's hooves, where you brush it on and maybe have to reapply it often.) I just get some of the cream on one finger and rub it onto the horn handle. Then I wipe off any excess. It leaves a nice luster.

This is for protection, not to make the handle swell up. I haven't had significant shrinkage, so I don't know if Hooflex would do any good for that problem, but it will probably seal the surface and prevent further shrinkage for horn that is ok to start with.

I've already forgotten how this thread began, but if your chiruwa-type tang is still protruding after all that soaking, I would mask off the horn with painter's tape and take a fine file to the edges of the tang, and just round it over. No need to file down the whole tang, just the edges. That should go very quickly, because the tang typically is unhardened.

One more thing: If you've been soaking the handle in mineral oil or other stuff, it might prevent the Hooflex from adhering. You want to make sure at least that there's no residue of oil on the surface of the horn before applying Hooflex. Maybe wiping with a cotton cloth for a few days to remove any traces of the previous substance.
 
Thanks, David.

I've already filed on the wood CAK & the M-43, got them down to where it's tolerable.
Have not on the horn AK yet, was hoping for a miraculous re-growth there.
That one's the biggest reason for wanting to try the Hooflex. The horn slabs have gone too far below the tang surfaces to be usable without scraping skin & they've pulled away from the pommel cap.

On the hornie with the rat-tail tang, that one's not nearly as bad (as you'd expect with an enclosed tang), mostly some minor overlap with the pommel cap now & I can hopefully manage to not screw up the horn in filing those cap edges carefully.

If the Hooflex will not help swell the horn slabs, I won't bother with the Hooflex.
I'll file the tang surfaces on the horned AK, mess up the horn in the process (I know my abilities :) ), clean everything up the best I can, and just live with the gap between pommel & horn.

Not the end of the world, life will go on.
And that life will go on with wood from here on out. :)

My climate is just not a good match for horn here.

Appreciate the help from all who offered advice on this issue, it's a learning process & I am.
I've kept posting on this one for others who may have similar problems.
Denis
 
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