Ram’s horn scales.

Chris Railey

Chris Railey

Well-Known Member
I have a rather generous supply of whole ram’s horns that I can use to make handle scales. I have read a little on how to process them and I intend to cut them into large pieces and boil them till they soften then clamp them between two pieces of wood to dry. Are there any pitfalls I should look for? Also, if someone wants some I would work a trade for another handle material.
 
Chris Railey said:
I have a rather generous supply of whole ram’s horns that I can use to make handle scales. I have read a little on how to process them and I intend to cut them into large pieces and boil them till they soften then clamp them between two pieces of wood to dry. Are there any pitfalls I should look for? Also, if someone wants some I would work a trade for another handle material.
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You probably want to boil them in a pot outside. Never tried any ram's horn but cow horn stink very bad when you boil them up!! It is a smell if you get it in the house, it will linger for a while!! Don't ask how I know!!! :eek::D

take a look at this link: http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~Marc-Carlson/horn/horng.html
 
Are there any pitfalls
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More than you can image! Horn is nothing more than compressed hair..... anything that can happen to your wife or girlfriend's hair on "a bad hair day" can happen with horn handle material. Horn material "moves" more then any other variety of handle material(s). I refuse to boil/flatten it, because it will only stay that way until it get's into a different environment than where it was processed... then it will seek to return to it's original shape. If it's on a knife when that happens, you can expect anything from minor issues, to the material completely separating from a tang, pulling through pins, bolts, or whatever fastener you use.... it just doesn't care. :) Working it present some unique circumstances not seen in most other handle materials too.

All that being said, Ram horn is a very nice/durable handle material, if you're willing to take the risks using it involves, and adjust your construction methods. Personally, I charge an additional $200 for Sheep or Ram horn handles.....that's because I know it's going to fight me the whole way, and there are better then average chances that I will see that knife again for a problem with the handle.
 
You do not want to boil them, heat them dry in the oven instead. Here's the problem. If you boil them you completely saturate the horn with moisture. Then you need to wait a year for them to cure again. That's the reason people have trouble with horn.

First, cut the tip off for a suitable hidden tang handle. Then cut off the outside strip (around the outside curve of the horn) thick enough for scales. Then split the two sides of the horn. You should get three strips from each horn like a triangle, unless they are too narrow, then skip the first cut.

Heat your household oven to 350 degrees. I have my own oven in the shop for this. Place the horn on the rack and wait. Do not answer the phone or get distracted. After about ten minutes check the horn with oven mits on. Check them often after that. When they are as flexible as a car tire (with no air in it) they are ready to press. Take them out and clamp them between two pieces of ply wood. Let them cool over night.

Here's a neat trick for something unusual. You can leave them in the oven just a little longer to change the color. Just after they are flexible enough to bend they will start to turn orange or butterscotch colored. Very shortly after that they will start to burn so they have to be taken out quickly after that.

I suggest doing them in small batches so they don't get ahead of you. Have all your clamps and boards ready ahead of time.

Everything Ed said is true, they like to move. Once they have cooled, they shouldn't be subjected to heat or moisture any more. Work them slow, heat from friction with warp them. Use sharp tools and abrasives. Do not dip them in water if they start to get warm. Put them down and do something else.

Dovetail your bolsters, that helps keep them from curling. Use corby or Loveless rivets when you can. Do hidden tangs when you can, like on the horn tip. All these things will lessen the chance of handle failure.

All that having been said, I have had several hundred knives out, starting 18 years ago with sheep or musk ox horn on them and have had only two come back. Those were musk ox horn, notorious for shrinking.

When the knife is finished it can't be left on the dash of a truck on a hot day or displayed on a fire place mantle. Keep cool and dry.

Good luck, have fun and go with confidence my friend.
 
See that is why I love it here. When I first stared out I would ask questions on other forums only to be ridiculed for not knowing the answers so I had to learn a lot on my own but here you guys are very helpful. No way I would have known those things until I had messed up a few knives. Thanks again and I think I will leave the horn for more display knives and not daily users. I have them and they are free so I guess I will use them but now I am ahead thanks guys.
 
This thread is worth its weight in gold. I am using horn for the first time as we speak. I'm doing two little slipjoint folders. I'm very happy that I have accidentally done things right so far. I dovetailed the bolsters and I'm using good epoxy to hold the scales on the liners. Being that the scales are pretty short and only about .125 thick, I'm hoping there just isn't enough horn there to create enough force to do much if it wants to twist later on.

I'm using Kudo horn, by the way. I cut my scales and let them sit for a few days just to see what they'd do on their own. It's about 90 - 95 degree here and very high humidity, but the humidity did change from day to day. The scales didn't move enough for me to notice. So.. here's to hoping.
 
Mark Knapp said:
You do not want to boil them, heat them dry in the oven instead. Here's the problem. If you boil them you completely saturate the horn with moisture. Then you need to wait a year for them to cure again. That's the reason people have trouble with horn.

First, cut the tip off for a suitable hidden tang handle. Then cut off the outside strip (around the outside curve of the horn) thick enough for scales. Then split the two sides of the horn. You should get three strips from each horn like a triangle, unless they are too narrow, then skip the first cut.

Heat your household oven to 350 degrees. I have my own oven in the shop for this. Place the horn on the rack and wait. Do not answer the phone or get distracted. After about ten minutes check the horn with oven mits on. Check them often after that. When they are as flexible as a car tire (with no air in it) they are ready to press. Take them out and clamp them between two pieces of ply wood. Let them cool over night.

Here's a neat trick for something unusual. You can leave them in the oven just a little longer to change the color. Just after they are flexible enough to bend they will start to turn orange or butterscotch colored. Very shortly after that they will start to burn so they have to be taken out quickly after that.

I suggest doing them in small batches so they don't get ahead of you. Have all your clamps and boards ready ahead of time.

Everything Ed said is true, they like to move. Once they have cooled, they shouldn't be subjected to heat or moisture any more. Work them slow, heat from friction with warp them. Use sharp tools and abrasives. Do not dip them in water if they start to get warm. Put them down and do something else.

Dovetail your bolsters, that helps keep them from curling. Use corby or Loveless rivets when you can. Do hidden tangs when you can, like on the horn tip. All these things will lessen the chance of handle failure.

All that having been said, I have had several hundred knives out, starting 18 years ago with sheep or musk ox horn on them and have had only two come back. Those were musk ox horn, notorious for shrinking.

When the knife is finished it can't be left on the dash of a truck on a hot day or displayed on a fire place mantle. Keep cool and dry.

Good luck, have fun and go with confidence my friend.
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Mark,
The 350° you're referring to; is it Celsius or Fahrenheit?
 
Mark is in the US so it is safe to assume farenheit. More than likely he would have specified celcius. Besides I am fairly sure 350 celcius would render the horn material useless. Hope this helps.
 
Thanks Chris. I suspect as much, but wanted to make sure anyway, as there is a significant difference between the two.
I have some ram's horn as well and do not want to incinerate it. Where I live, we normally work in Celsius.
 
When I was a kid, (which I haven't seen those days in a while) we were supposed to converting to the Metric System! We never did make the full conversion.
The auto industry has gone almost exclusively to metric nowadays but, it drives me crazy to work on a vehicle and half of the bolts are SAE and the other half Metric.

So I had to go to the conversion chart and yes 662* Fahrenheit would do real bad things to Rams horn!! o_O:p
 
EdCaffreyMS said:
that's because I know it's going to fight me the whole way, and there are better then average chances that I will see that knife again for a problem with the handle.
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Can you stabilize horn? would it help with the movement?

It's so beautiful...I know I will play with it sometime. I just hate beauty that creates problems....prolly a reaction to girlfriends from my younger days...lol.
 
Smallshop said:
Can you stabilize horn? would it help with the movement?

It's so beautiful...I know I will play with it sometime. I just hate beauty that creates problems....prolly a reaction to girlfriends from my younger days...lol.
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Sheep horn does not have pores in it like wood does so stabilization will not help.
 
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