Where do you guys buy horns from?

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daily_grind

Joined
Apr 5, 2024
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I'm aware that horn has issues with shrinkage, etc., and should be pinned in addition to being glued when on a knife handle ... but I *love* how it looks.

I was walking through the pet store and I saw that they were selling some horn (looked like sheeps horn and cow horn) and had taken notes on how to prepare it for handles from a post here.

Surely, there must be somewhere better than a pet store to source horn from!
 
Horn should be properly prepared and flattened to use on a knife. The most popular type is sheep ram's horn
There are suppliers who sell it. I suspect Culpepper has plenty of it. (knifehandles dot com)

I have hundreds of pairs of sheep horn scales if you want to play with some. Send me an email. Sapelt@cox.net
 
I love the overlap between "exotic knife handle material" and "doggie chew toy".

I've used water buffalo horn from the pet section of Target on some wa handles, and it seems to have held up well over the years. I had to work around some voids that might not be there in better treated material.
 
I used to buy whole large cow horns, cut them up, heat them and press them-as the sizes I needed were not readily available.
Now I can buy pre cut in the sizes I need.
 
I use elk antlers on some of my work, but only the brow tines, what us elk hunters call the ones and the twos, or the fronts. If it has the right curve, I can use the third point too. Elk is pithy, and you can hardly ever make one into a good set of flat scales, so I sell the rest of the antler to a friend in NC who converts them to those high priced chew toys. My lab loves em too.

Very rarely can I find a suitable whitetail antler for a handle. They seem to walk (shrink and swell) even when dried out for years. Mule deer works,for me, much better for some reason

Some elk fronts here:

IMG-3001.jpg
 
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godogs57 said:
I use elk antlers on some of my work, but only the brow tines, what us elk hunters call the ones and the twos, or the fronts. If it has the right curve, I can use the third point too. Elk is pithy, and you can hardly ever make one into a good set of flat scales, so I sell the rest of the antler to a friend in NC who converts them to those high priced chew toys. My lab loves em too.

Very rarely can I find a suitable whitetail antler for a handle. They seem to walk (shrink and swell) even when dried out for years. Mule deer works,for me, much better for some reason

Some elk fronts here:

IMG-3001.jpg
Click to expand...
Beautiful knives and nice leather work too!

Sorry guys late to the party. I get my elk horn from trading with local cowboys etc. Many know that I'll trade with them so they'll save up sheds that they find and bring me a load. Sheephorn I buy and there are several suppliers, Culpepper and others. I have to disagree on elk not making good scales.

Here's a WIP/Tutorial I did some years back on my process.

Horsewright

Thread 'Processing Elk Sheds (A WIP)'

Often see questions here about different aspects of processing antler into scales for handle use. This is something I do a lot of, so I thought I'd take some pics and show you how i go about it. Here in California a craftsman must use sheds in his work and thats all I use. I'll let the pics do most of the talking:

Ya think of California and ya think of palm trees and bikinis. Not so much around here. Around here we have big elk, (Stacy I expect ya to know who's on the beer fridge in the background).

zSCuRDf.jpg


I'm a rancher as well as a knife maker...
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My current stash that I have yet to cut up:

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My current already processed into scales box:

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I've made hundreds of knives with elk scales and they have been put through the wringer some of them. They have held up very well and I don't recall ever having to repair one. Some recents:

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After a branding season:

6dVB9SS.jpg


After many branding seasons:

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I do some things with pieces and crowns that don't make up into scales:

Bridle rack, hat rack, gear racks, etc

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Anyhoo. Just as an aside, I have a customer that is a retired Vet that specialized in bird dogs. He once had me build a knife for his partner with an elk handle as a joke. Seemed like all they were doing was fixing broken teeth from elk chews.
 
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Horsewright Horsewright , I love your pictures, and the "real life usage" of the brands, lassos, etc! I'm babysitting some dry-off dairy cattle. They're like dangerously oversized friendly dogs. I had considered posting some action photos of them trying to get the treats out of my pockets ... but it isn't as cool as your ranch photos. :)

Unrelated, I started to use the water-based contact adhesive you had recommended a long time ago and love it for sheaths.
 
daily_grind said:
Horsewright Horsewright , I love your pictures, and the "real life usage" of the brands, lassos, etc! I'm babysitting some dry-off dairy cattle. They're like dangerously oversized friendly dogs. I had considered posting some action photos of them trying to get the treats out of my pockets ... but it isn't as cool as your ranch photos. :)

Unrelated, I started to use the water-based contact adhesive you had recommended a long time ago and love it for sheaths.
Click to expand...
Good deal glad that glue is working out for ya. All I use in all my leatherwork. My son taking a phone call in mid branding. Caught the calf and everything. Diamond Oregon.

I6aWifT.jpg


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QHGaDm4.jpg


These cattle aren't super tame living in that big open desert country.
 
godogs57 said:
I use elk antlers on some of my work, but only the brow tines, what us elk hunters call the ones and the twos, or the fronts. If it has the right curve, I can use the third point too. Elk is pithy, and you can hardly ever make one into a good set of flat scales, so I sell the rest of the antler to a friend in NC who converts them to those high priced chew toys. My lab loves em too.

Very rarely can I find a suitable whitetail antler for a handle. They seem to walk (shrink and swell) even when dried out for years. Mule deer works,for me, much better for some reason

Some elk fronts here:

IMG-3001.jpg
Click to expand...

Both are beautiful, but the one on the right is exceptional.
 
Horsewright said:
I was impressed by the stamping on both sheaths. Excellent mositure control and very uniform stamping
Click to expand...
A good friend and saddle maker from Clayton, NM taught me how to do the basketweave stamping. Bobby Burns. Watching him lay out the lines and pop, pop, pop as fast as lightning…with the small basketweave stamp! I’m slow as Christmas but the learning curve is leveling out for me…

Bobby also clued me in on where to get my leather. Panhandle Leather in Amarillo. Every fall when I head to NM to elk hunt I stop in and load up.
 
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