The Sardinian connection.

Main thing is trying to keep humidity levels reasonable. Certain museums say 30% minimum, 70% max and no serious fluctuations between the two. That's feasible in museums maybe...here now winter is biting, dry cold air outside and hot dry air inside can get the readings as low as 11%. Use a humidifier that pumps out 4 litres of water in around 10 hours but even so it's barely 32%.

Olive-Oil has been around in Europe since the Ancient Greeks for cooking, burning, lubrication, skin care, health and looking after artefacts. Lot of nonsense is talked about it 'going rancid' on knives etc, it might after years or not using the knife so that's a non issue ;) I was wondering about Neatsfoor Oil or Hoof Oil for Horn knives but it's tricky to get small quantities, maybe I'll ask my equestrian friend if she has some spare.
 
Main thing is trying to keep humidity levels reasonable. Certain museums say 30% minimum, 70% max and no serious fluctuations between the two. That's feasible in museums maybe...here now winter is biting, dry cold air outside and hot dry air inside can get the readings as low as 11%. Use a humidifier that pumps out 4 litres of water in around 10 hours but even so it's barely 32%.

Olive-Oil has been around in Europe since the Ancient Greeks for cooking, burning, lubrication, skin care, health and looking after artefacts. Lot of nonsense is talked about it 'going rancid' on knives etc, it might after years or not using the knife so that's a non issue ;) I was wondering about Neatsfoor Oil or Hoof Oil for Horn knives but it's tricky to get small quantities, maybe I'll ask my equestrian friend if she has some spare.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts Will. How has your arresoja been treating you? They'll never replace spring knives, but I now better understand the charms of a friction folder, at least the beautiful Sardinian specimens.
 
It's a little tricky as we're heading for 4 hours twilight a day come 20th Dec...and I'm out at the country house with no camera for the week-end. See what I can manage in the gloom next week.

11cm shut and about 9cm blade so it's no monster but I find the size very capable.

Thanks, Will
 
I have never even considered the need to oil my ram horn knives. :rolleyes: Maybe our coastal living mitigates the need but then it might just be that being handled a lot they get oiled by my hands. No sign in several years of movement.

Glad to hear you are finding a use and an appreciation for your Sechi Pattada Will Power Will Power . Shall I post a few photos to spare you the effort?
 
I have never even considered the need to oil my ram horn knives. :rolleyes: Maybe our coastal living mitigates the need but then it might just be that being handled a lot they get oiled by my hands. No sign in several years of movement.

Hmmm...I must be doing something wrong then. I live a mile away from the water, and I've been handling my resolza constantly. It's only been a week and I can already feel the horn handle starting to dry out. Perhaps it has to do with my area's Mediterranean clime compared to Maine's humid continental climate?
 
Might also be that I keep them in a bureau drawer in a room that is never heated past 64° F and the humidity usually settles around 54% in the winter.
I don't know though - just reporting.
 
Hmmm...I must be doing something wrong then. I live a mile away from the water, and I've been handling my resolza constantly. It's only been a week and I can already feel the horn handle starting to dry out. Perhaps it has to do with my area's Mediterranean clime compared to Maine's humid continental climate?

Where in the Bay Area are you? At this time of the year it shouldn't matter because your humidity runs on the higher side. For example, my daughter lives in Fremont, and as I type this the relative humidity there is 60%. That certainly wouldn't lead to horn drying out. Granted, your indoor air is heated and the relative humidity is lower, but it's not that much different from where I live (Visalia) this time of the year. I have yet to see any drying in any of my horn handled knives, not even in the summer when it is up to 110 here.
 
Where in the Bay Area are you? At this time of the year it shouldn't matter because your humidity runs on the higher side. For example, my daughter lives in Fremont, and as I type this the relative humidity there is 60%. That certainly wouldn't lead to horn drying out. Granted, your indoor air is heated and the relative humidity is lower, but it's not that much different from where I live (Visalia) this time of the year. I have yet to see any drying in any of my horn handled knives, not even in the summer when it is up to 110 here.

I'm in Pittsburg. The delta is a short walk away.

You're right of course. I just checked the local humidity and it's at 69%. And yet, I can feel the texture of my horn handle has changed. It's not as smooth as it was earlier in the week and I swear I can feel some of the individual fibers on the horn. Not only that, but the blade now feels more snug. The amount of resistance when opening it into place has increased. I've only noticed it because the resolza has lived on my desk all week and I've been chicken eye'n and coon fingerin' it during slow times. I've quickly become acquainted with this knife.

I wonder if this knife is simply acclimating itself to a new environment, having crossed an ocean and a continent from Sardinia to California. As I once mentioned to draggat draggat , horn is alive. This resolza is a prime example.
 
From an old NYT article --

"A Pattada knife is a splendid object: Its stainless steel blade is filed by machine and finished by hand. Its handle is typically made of horn harvested from a ram or a mouflon (a wild sheep native to the island), then shaped, sized and polished to a gentle luminosity. In a way, the use of horn links these knife makers to the people of the Ozieri culture, who regarded the material as symbolic of male fertility and used it as emblems on their pots.

Not long ago, shepherds used to brand their sheep by using a Pattada knife to carve their initials into the animal's ear. Nowadays they cut bread and cheese and sausage to make an instant picnic in a Sardinian forest. There is a secret use for the knives, too, possibly apocryphal: They are said to be one of the bandito's favorite implements for cutting off human ears, thereby confirming the identity of the person he is holding for ransom.

A Pattada knife takes an artisan several days to craft. Although a few may be ready made, most are specifically commissioned and then sent, though only within Italy. Valued like jewelry in Sardinia, Pattada knives do not come cheap: They begin at about $100 for a pocketknife and climb steeply from there. Yet how many knives do you know that have had poems written to them and seem, in their perfection and beauty, to capture the essence of a place? ''Your blade cut as sharp as a thought,'' goes a line from the Sardinian poet Montanaru. Sharp blades, sharp thoughts, sharp cheeses, sharp pleasures -- all these lie waiting for a visitor to the interior of Sardinia."
 
I'm in Pittsburg. The delta is a short walk away.

You're right of course. I just checked the local humidity and it's at 69%. And yet, I can feel the texture of my horn handle has changed. It's not as smooth as it was earlier in the week and I swear I can feel some of the individual fibers on the horn. Not only that, but the blade now feels more snug. The amount of resistance when opening it into place has increased. I've only noticed it because the resolza has lived on my desk all week and I've been chicken eye'n and coon fingerin' it during slow times. I've quickly become acquainted with this knife.

I wonder if this knife is simply acclimating itself to a new environment, having crossed an ocean and a continent from Sardinia to California. As I once mentioned to draggat draggat , horn is alive. This resolza is a prime example.

I have noticed slight roughening of surface texture on mine. And seasonal changes in pivot tightness. Yes, horn is alive.

Get yourself a leather slip so that you can carry it without worry. I carry my small resolza in a leather slip in the same pocket as my keys, and have had no problems.
 
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