Tips for carving horn?

[Wenie]

I've just got hold of a piece of buffalo horn and, never having worked with horn before, I'm looking for any tips or suggestions regarding carving it. I know there are a couple of points on carving horn in this thread, but I thought it would be worth asking again in case anyone has any other tips they could give me.

 

[jdlenton]

what do you want to do with it ?got any design ideas? i could then try and dirtect you to a few techniques

James

 

[MartiniDave]

If its the Indian Waterbuffalo Horn you get at craft fairs then I've used it to re-scale a couple of Swiss Army Knives and an old folder.
I cut it with a hacksaw, shape it with files and clean it up with sand/emery/wet & dry paper before a final polish with cloth and t-cut. It will come up really nice if you take your time and work at it.
As you get towards the middle of the horn you might find a sort of grain and colour variation, which can look quite attractive.

Good luck with it.

Dave

 

[Wenie]

what do you want to do with it ?got any design ideas? i could then try and dirtect you to a few techniques

James

Well I was thinking of making a walking stick handle, but then I saw this buffalo horn sling shot, so now I fancy attempting something similar...

If its the Indian Waterbuffalo Horn you get at craft fairs then I've used it to re-scale a couple of Swiss Army Knives and an old folder.
I cut it with a hacksaw, shape it with files and clean it up with sand/emery/wet & dry paper before a final polish with cloth and t-cut. It will come up really nice if you take your time and work at it.
As you get towards the middle of the horn you might find a sort of grain and colour variation, which can look quite attractive.

Good luck with it.

Dave

Thanks for tips! It's looking a bit rough and skanky as it is now, so it'll be nice to see how it looks when it's all carved and polished up!

 

[MartiniDave]

Wenie,

I have found that if you overdo the polishing it dan end up looking like a lump of moulded plastic, so I tend to try to leave an imperfection here and there to give some character.

Dave