What's the best way to care for a horn handle

Id order some Hooflex and wile your waiting on it to come in rub some mineral oil on it. The Hooflex is mostly mineral oil, lanolin and some other stuff if i can remember correctly. Letting it soak a few days works well.
 
I think the key to longevity is proper hydration as ndoghouse so eloquently (that means real good ndog) stated. I have some hoof flex I found in the garage, makes sense I guess since I got two ponies in the back yard but never seen wife or daughter use the stuff. I been using Ballistol on mine but I intend to try the hoof flex first time I remember.

I went down the blade rack yesterday and fondled each and inspected for evil things, rust, dry wood or horn. All is well, I probably better check em again tonight, been almost a whole day, anything can happen.
 
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Hehe, Are you just living at your collection room/work bench since the wife is gone visiting? Spend all your time cleaning and caring for the items in there and no one to yell at you for not doing the other errands? :)
 
Madam are you suggesting that I'm not the king of my castle and dost not wear the britches in thine family? Hmmmmm.

Course I'm living at the bench, been gone since yesterday, I'm near starved, no direction, my hearing is coming back and I have so many things I want to do as a free man I can't make up my mind where to start. Fortunately none of them require money, I anticipated a severe lack of playing capital prior to her departure and there was no surprise there.

Maybe I'll take a nap and try to think up a plan, better than listening to my stomach, sounds just like the cat and the ponies. FEED ME, FEED ME, FEED ME.
If I wake up and the chair is gone, I think I'll just plain faint straight away. Probably buy stock in Disney Land.

To add insult to my injuries I asked the front desk receptionist, only coworker I can look at without stomach upset, she's actually quite cute, if she'd like to have an affair, I asked her prior to her marriage last fall and she said she wanted to be married prior to having an affair, so tried again about 3 months ago and she was undecided.
Asked her today and she said she'd rather go to Sweden with my wife!:eek: Maybe you two are comparing notes. This whole rejection trip is a whole new playing field for me. Not sure how to deal with it.
 
Few of the kuks I got last year with horn are suffering from excessive shrinkage. One even developed a longitudinal crack that runs across almost all length of the handle. :-(


I guess I should seriously consider start hydrating them properly.
 
I think I speak for all of us when I say that if I woke up tomorrow with lady bits, the first thing I'd do is have an affair with Bawanna.

I've treated my horn hilts with lanolin. It seems to be effective in hydrating them, but it does leave them rather greasy.
 
blue lander said:
I think I speak for all of us when I say that if I woke up tomorrow with lady bits, the first thing I'd do is have an affair with Bawanna.

I've treated my horn hilts with lanolin. It seems to be effective in hydrating them, but it does leave them rather greasy.
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Who said anything about lady bits? I'm just in it for the parking.

When I get a new horn handle khuk, I let the handle soak fully submerged in a jar of mineral oil overnight. It will be a little oily for a few days after I take it out but it will eventually soak up and be good to go for a while. The hoof conditioner is generally just mineral oil mixed with different waxes to hold it in better.
 
LOL, I promise, Never, ever talked to MABEL a day in my life... so any ideas I might have mentioned about Sweden instead were her own, I steadfastly stick to that story no matter what the security videos show even if you could prove that was me in them instead of the doppleganger I swear it was.

As for the britches in your family. I am sure you wear them. And I bet you have your wife's permission to do so since otherwise it might be sorta embarrasing for her to be letting you out in public. Hehe, seriously when hubby travels for work, I have a couple of things I do and a few of my childhood foods I cook that I don't when he is home, little things that annoy the heck out of him or take up hours I could be spending with him so I wind up not doing except when he is away so yeah, it works the same for both sides on the travel thing. Enjoying your own schedule instead of arranging it with someone else is always a nice break.
 
How wide are the cracks snowwolf? If they are still fairly thin, you might be able to fill them with super glue, sand bone into them and then sand everything smooth then apply hoof conditioner with just a faint line showing afterwards. If it is more than a 1/16" or so, you have to either fill them with epoxy colored black (add black tempra powdered paint or get black dye for epoxy) and fill the cracks. Epoxy runs easier when smooth but is hard to work down in the cracks - use a razor or sharp edge to push it down in.

Hoping they are still narrow for you.
 
happycamper144 said:
Appreciate the help, I'm gonna try to get some hooflex soon, which kami's mark is the fish?
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I believe the fish is Lok's kami mark.

Hooflex comes in two forms, liquid and cream. For knife handles (horn) I prefer the cream since it rubs on easily and one jar can last a very long time. The liquid form is probably better for applying to actual horse's hoofs, but it can get awfully messy if all you need is to rub a small amount on a knife handle.
 
roninsgrips said:
How wide are the cracks snowwolf? If they are still fairly thin, you might be able to fill them with super glue, sand bone into them and then sand everything smooth then apply hoof conditioner with just a faint line showing afterwards. If it is more than a 1/16" or so, you have to either fill them with epoxy colored black (add black tempra powdered paint or get black dye for epoxy) and fill the cracks. Epoxy runs easier when smooth but is hard to work down in the cracks - use a razor or sharp edge to push it down in.

Hoping they are still narrow for you.
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Ronin - Thanks for your inputs. I guess a picture worth a 1000 words. What do you think?
Siru_Cracked_b-vi.jpg


I guess I will have to go the Epoxy route.
 
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I would glue it then put three hose clamps around it while it cures. The clamp at the butcap sometimes slides down but it will eventually grab somewhere between the ring and buttcap. Put some paper under the hose clamps so they dont scratch things up. After it cures release the hose clamps slowly over about a week (if you have the patience). Ill loosen them about a quarter turn each day till they are loose. After a week the glue will be fully cured and you can condition it with hoof stuff or oil and that will soften and relieve the stress so it dont crack in other places. I put a piece of tape along each side of the crack to minimize sanding afterwards and also over the fresh epoxy so that when you squeeze the clamps down the epoxy gets forced inside toward the tang instead of out the crack.
 
ndoghouse said:
I would glue it then put three hose clamps around it while it cures. The clamp at the butcap sometimes slides down but it will eventually grab somewhere between the ring and buttcap. Put some paper under the hose clamps so they dont scratch things up. After it cures release the hose clamps slowly over about a week (if you have the patience). Ill loosen them about a quarter turn each day till they are loose. After a week the glue will be fully cured and you can condition it with hoof stuff or oil and that will soften and relieve the stress so it dont crack in other places. I put a piece of tape along each side of the crack to minimize sanding afterwards and also over the fresh epoxy so that when you squeeze the clamps down the epoxy gets forced inside toward the tang instead of out the crack.
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Instead of the clamps I was thinking of tight wrapping a cord around it. Which will even the pressure. But I'm wondering if the cord will block the air and retards the curing process.
 
Problem with the cord is you cant squeeze it down as tight. Try a dry run first and you will see what I mean. Hose clamp will often close the gap entirely. Epoxy doesnt need air to cure in fact it cures better without air. It cures with heat generated by a catalyst after mixing. More catalyst=faster cure but compromises strength. Less catalyst=slower cure and stronger bond. Ive used 5 minute with great success but if you can get the longer cure stuff it is better.
 
I think rather than trying to close the gap I would just fill the gap. I'd probably use something like acraglas with some black dye in it, it comes with brown and black, try to blend to the same shade as the horn.

I'd probably even clean out the crack a bit, open it up to get more in. Fill it and smooth it and call it a day.

Keep it oiled up good after it's all set up and dry.
 
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