Hi Guys-

I'm putting together another sheep horn handle and it's not cooperating.

Jon, I know you've used sheep horn before.

I did my typical application for a full tang knife. The scales were sanded flat slowly, clamped to precision ground steel for two weeks, and cleaned with Acetone before glue-up. I sand-blasted the tang and cleaned it with Acetone as well.

I only glue up one side at a time. I fit the scales/fiber spacer/stainless spacer to the dovetailed bolsters, drilled the holes, drilled about 40- 1/8" shallow holes in the scale interior for increased surface area, and glued up as usual with K&G epoxy. Then I let it dry for 3 days.

I took the clamps off and sanded the scale down to the tang....and it started coming off!!!

At this point I've popped the scale off and cleaned it up.

Any suggestions now that I'm going to try to do it again??? :)

Sorry to be so long-winded, but I wanted to make it clear what was happening. Thanks!!!

Nick

Nick, did the epoxy stick to the sheep horn at all? did it stick to the knife tang at all? In other words, which surface did it NOT stick too? or both? I have a suspicion that the horn is "green" and a little oily. Do you know how old it is? I have read that sheep horn needs to be aged for several years to cure out to be reliable.

It seems to have good adhesion to the tang (1084/15N20 damascus) and the ends of the horn...but the center where it pulled away had poor adhesion.

I bought the horn from Ken in Eugene (K&G) so I could pick out the color/texture, but I have no idea how old it is...I guess I can call Ken and ask.

Thanks,
Nick

Nick,
I've used sheep horn a few times and have never had any problems with it. I use acraglas exclusively but I think that foxcreek has the right idea about the scales being not fully cured since the epoxy didn't stick to all the scale surface. I've also heard that they need years to cure out. Sounds like you prepared it right, just got a fresh piece. Sorry i couldn't help more.
Jon

You might try sending it to Knife and Gun Finishing Supplies or WSSI for stabilizing. Works very well for me.

What's the approximate price for stabilizing a set of sheephorn scales from the major companies?

Tom,it can run from $8.00-12.00/LB depending on quantity sent in.BTW,lumberlady is now doing stabilizing also.