Evening Bevel, a silly question pertaining to neatsfoot oil rehydration of the horn scales and their effect on how well the horn/epoxy sticks to the scale. I've an old French razor that's been in neatsfoot for about four weeks now (was away on a trip longer than I expected). Is there any rule of thumb for how & how well must I clean the oil residue from the dings in order for the epoxy to stick to it? Is acohol or a more aggresive paint thinners necessary, or simply wiping? A very nice tutorial - cheers!
Wade & Butcher Fine India Steel and damaged Blonde Horn Scales (Hornoxy repair)
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Just to add something here...
I'd probably clean the areas with a bit of soapy water before, as epoxy doesn't bond that well to oiled stuff, but on a razor handle it's going to have a lot less stress than in other applications, so should be fine.
The single most important thing though is what Bevel said above... they need to be completely and fully dried before. Horn will move around as it dries or cures, and the shear force from that is by far the most likely thing to break the bond.
An example of this is something I do quite a lot - trying to break epoxy bonds with horn and other stuff. Which can be mindlessly difficult, as it doesn't respond to heat in quite the same way as other glues. Heating epoxy will make it softer, but the bond can remain pretty much as strong as before under shock force. However shock temperature changes (boiling water, iced water, boiling water, iced water &c.), cause different rates of expansion and contraction, and can break epoxy bonds quite easily. If you put epoxy on horn that isn't fully dried - you risk getting a similar effect.
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Thank you for the excellent explaination!
