First attempt with horn - Wade & Butcher

[Zephyr]

This is my first "real" attempt at horn scales.

I did try to make some a while ago, but with the equipment and knowledge I had at the time I screwed up when trying to thin the blanks to the right thickness.
Thanks to Grant (Baldy) who gave me some tips and links that was very helpful, this time it went much better, I'm very satisfied with the outcome, the best so far me think

I got this Wade & Butcher last week, it was in very good shape and the original plan was to keep the original scales, but they were extremely dry and had a small crack by the pivot pin and broke when unpinning.

Razor is a 7/8 Wade & Butcher w/sway back and barbers notch, still haven't gotten a buffer set up, so it's hand sanded with 800-1200-2000 wet/dry sandpaper, #0000 steelwool and polished with Autosol.

Scales are made of dark horn with bone wedge, brass pins and washers.

Only problem is that the tang is a little twisted, so the blade needs to be guided to prevent it from hitting the scales, I did manage to straighten it a bit by placing it in a vice and use a socket wrench, but not nearly enough.

Before:

After:

Thanks for looking

 

[Kentos]

Very nice! Would it be possible to massage the horn to accomodate the warp?

 

[MileMarker60]

Rune, that can out great You should be very pleased with it

 

[Zephyr]

Very nice! Would it be possible to massage the horn to accomodate the warp?

Thanks Kent, it could maybe be possible, but as it is the spine is in center while the edge just hits the scales if it's not guided, I think I maybe will try to straighten it some more later, but I'm a little afraid of the tang breaking if I use too much power.
I was also thinking of maybe expanding the rear pivot hole to adjust for the warp.

Rune, that can out great You should be very pleased with it

Thanks Brian, I am

 

[hillbilly]

Good lordy dats nice!

 

[jdto]

That is a beautiful job. Great stuff!

 

[paco664]

very nice job.... sweet...

 

[hig789]

Very Very nice job. I love the shape.

 

[barneykiller]

That looks amazing. Great job!

 

[cameraflier]

Pat yourself on the back for that one. Very nice work. Great job on the pins.

 

[Kavik79]

absolutely beautiful design, very well done

 

[Jordy]

Great Job, I must admit she turned out to be a diamond in the rough, You made that Wade and Butcher look Gorgeous!!!!!!

 

[joshua82]

I like those scales. good job man.

 

[tomjr]

very well done

 

[Drybonz]

Looks awesome!

 

[newtobengall]

What do you say? AWSOME is what came to mind after i caught my spit drool. lol.

 

[chuckr9]

Awesome!

 

[Doc226]

I love the big old choppers

 

[Zephyr]

Thank you all for the kind words about my work.

I've managed to adjust the scales a bit by using steam, so now the blade don't hit the scales anymore, but it's still not perfect, so I will give it another run with steam, and put it in a jig to keep the shape until it cools down.