doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Need info. on heat shaping water buff. horn

I am looking for info. on heat shaping buff. horn and hope to bypass the trial & error portion of doing it on my own. I have heat shaped many different materials ie. metals, wood, cow horn, ivory etc. but need to duplicate a set of buff hrn trigger guards which is a medium in which I am limited to making butt plates and grip caps(though I have made created slight curves with heat in them). Questions include; heat type & source ie. wet/dry, prelim. shaping, immersion or exposure time, post treatment conditioning, and any additional info. that would be of help. Your assistance will be much appriciated.
Thank you,
Vic Shultz

Boil in water until flexible.Time depends on thickness of horn.For a complex shape like a triggerguard you will need to make a wood form and clamp the horn to it until it dries and takes a set.The only conditioning I have ever used on horn is to buff it with 4 ought bronze wool and apply a good paste wax.HTH

I've heard you could boil it in paraffin and get it hot enough to bend ?

Rockler tools has a steam bending kit for bending wood for 89 bucks ?

I'd like to hear how you did it if you ever figure it out.

Talk to a stick dresser .They bend them into all kinds of shapes.

Hello Vic,

Following gunman's tip I found this offhand:

Bending Buffalo Horn

Hope it helps. (Surely lots more to find).

JC

And that is why I still come to this site. I just learned something very interesting. Thanks for the link!

Or, you could do this??

http://www.csmcspecials.com/Buffalo_Horn_Trigger_Guard_p/ph200.htm

Haven't bent buffalo horn, but I have worked cow horn to make powder horns for muzzleloading purposes. Boiling in water doesn't quite get the horn hot enough at 212 degrees. Need to get to 230 - 236 degrees at which point it will lose its memory and be quite plastic and pliable. I heat in vegetable oil and use a candy thermometer to control the heat. Slower heat so you can keep it in for awhile to heat all the way to the center of the material will be important. Once you get past the memory it will move pretty fast. Problem is it will be so hot you can't touch it with bare hands which might be clumsy getting it into the jig. So you may want to do a bit, put it back in the oil for a bit and bend in stages. If you are bending in a jig you might want to get a heat lamp setup so you can continue to heat while slowing applying pressure with your clamps.

Decades ago I used to dress Horn tipped Shepherds Crooks and Walking Sticks. Rams horn could be easily bent after boiling for an hour or two (depending in size). Buffalo Horn was far more difficult to work and I found that the boiling and hot air gun methods did not get the required temperature. What I and other Northumbrian Stick Dressers used was a small hand held butane blow torch (Used by plumbers for soldered joints). Great care has to be taken with this method as it is easy to burn the horn, the torch flame has to be continually on the move. The outer surface is easily warmed up, but the heat must be allowed to penetrate to the very centre of the horn or bending will not be successful and the horn will crack under the strain.

Bending Black Buffalo Horn is an art and not learned in an hour or two. Finishing the outer surface is quite simple, simply file to shape, sand with wet and dry paper until very smooth and then use metal polish in either liquid or wadding form, a finish like glass can be easily obtained. Sheep and Goat horn is easily bent after boiling for an hour or so it's just Black Buffalo horn that is difficult to do.

Harry

Harry, You continue to amaze me with your knowledge!

Thanks!!