doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Gunstock Staining

I have gotten good water buffalo horn from Boone Trading Company in the past. I have 4 stocks that have their horn on them - so far no cracks, warpage, or shrinkage. It spent about 6 weeks in the dry box prior to fitting. You can get 2 good forend tips out of one horn, 3 if you are lucky.

http://www.boonetrading.com/RawMaterials/RUWBH.html

The ebony from woodcraft is OK. It's not jet black. I think brown streakes could be stained to get the light spots black? I've never tried before, but I'll give it a shot.

Just out of curiosity, why the obsession with black ebony? Even the best stuff looks too much like plastic to me. A little desert ironwood looks a whole lot handsomer - at least to me.
Brent

Many thanks for the link to Boone, bsteele! I had heard of them before as a source of ivory but didn't know about the horn, and their scrimshanding products look interesting also. Their horn prices are certainly reasonable when compared to some I've seen lately.
Regards, Joe

As per my latest story in Sports Afield, I had worms invade my bench-made powder horns several years ago, I'm still afraid of using horn! Anyone else have this experience??

pb, ebony is often difficult for taking finish, for a rifle tip before applying a coat of finish I'll soak it in a jar of acetone, for a few minutes up near the joint, to desolve the surface oil in the wood. For an inlay I give it a wipe. Seems that once the first coat takes, all is well.

brentd, lignum vitae is for wooden boat bumpers and bordertown animal carvings, plastic has no wood grain and gunstock ebony is supposed to be black - iowans need further explaination.

lignum vitae is good for whatever. But sonoran desert ironwood is something else (Olneya tesota). You may not like it on rifles, but I do. Black wood is sort of blah in my opinion. Little pieces like wedges in highwalls are fine, but big honking noses on the front end of a rifle stock are a bit much.

To each his own, I promise not to make anyone use ebony or horn if they don't wanta. Personally I like both, whether streaked or not, and will continue to use both as long as I can find them.

Yes, worms will eat your powder horns. And other natural products too. And so will rats, especially anything hard or salty such as something that has come into frequent contact with human skin and its salty oils. I too have(had) some cow horn that's now rat food.

Please be advised that grinding such animal products as ivory and horn exposes the careless workman to potentially life-threatening diseases and conditions such as lung fungus and cancers as well as emphysema of course. IMO any product from Africa is especialy worthy of attention. I wear a breathing filter when grinding ivory or horn and strongly urge everyone else to do the same. The dust is the culprit and the filter will solve most of the problem, I don't worry too much about the coarser raspings & filings as long as I wear a filter when grinding and producing the fine dust.
Regards, Joe

The only rats in Montana are bushy-tailed wood rats, which are more likely to steal and cache your goodies than to eat them!

on the topic of the worms in horn:

I know that in certain industries any wood products must be certified "insect free" to minimize the movement of harmful critters, ie. Emerald Ash Bores here in the Midwest. One way I know of that is used is by heating the wood (pallets) to around 150deg F, thereby killing all the bugs. I wonder if something as simple would work for horn. I had not considered that they were introduced from within the product, I had always guessed that the damage was caused by something introduced later (moths, etc.) I'll try it and see if the horn delaminates at all.

I would expect that a little quality time in the microwave would solve the parasite problem. That is how bio-hazardous materials are sterilized. I don't know if this would be kinder and gentler on materials like horn or ivory than an oven, but might be worth an experiment.

Glenn

To quote the late great George Carlin, "Au contraire, mon frere!" Cockroaches, for instance, sneer at mere microwaves. Don't know about worms though.
Regards, Joe