HORNERS I need your advise!

I have been working for some time on a beautiful mostly white horn. I am trying to keep it simple in the F&I style.

Now here is my problem while reworking the neck I have run across an air pocket or grap if you will just 1/16" deep 3/4" wide and close to 2" down the horn. My question is what would you do?
Epoxy or some other filler or what???
The horn overall is too nice to scrap and seeing how it took me a week of evenings to hand fit the butt plug I want to do everything possible to save the project. There is no leak to the inside of the horn. I can try to blow air 'till my eyes pop and no leaks.

Open to any and all suggestions!!! :hmm: :hmm:

:hmm: Do you plan to dye it or leave it white (I know nothing about horns but when a stock is gouged and you need to fill it you usually stain to match)? If you plan not to dye it I would try a clear epoxy mixed with dust from sanding the horn, for a perfect color match.

Mornin Fort Greene Ville
Just a thought, ,, is it at a place where you can use Epoxy on it then cover it with leather and not tell anyone bout it? Mine came out PERFECT,,
and that's my story,,

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v323/hobbles/2nd-horn.jpg

SKS
Yes I do plan on dying the horn. The defect is hidden. It is actually in the middle of the horn layers. You only see 1/16" x 3/4" at the edge of my strap neck area. My though is to epoxy with a larger suringe needle to inject the epoxy as far into the gap as possible. The question would then be will the epoxy accept the Rit dye? Has anyone tried this already? :thanks:

Hobbles
Thanks for the pics! My gap is actually in the middle of the horn layers. I'm guessing there is an 1/8" of horn on top of the gap. :thanks:

I am hoping to get some variety of options to help make my decision on the next cource of action. I was looking through some of the horners books I have but haven't found any trouble shooting advise as of yet. :hmm: :hmm:

I had a run out of the drill bit when drilling the neck on a good looking horn...I was able to cut a sliver from the not-yet-finished base of the horn, and krazy glued it in...the color was a pretty close match...If I'd have dyed it, I believe it would have been un-noticed...mixing horn dust with glue to fill it might work pretty well, too..Hank

You can fill gaps with superglue, if you want it deep into a crack, use regular superglue. If its a larger gap use the gel type. Never tried mixing it with dust, as it dries clear anyway. If you polish the horn to high gloss, the glue will polish out the same. I used it on knife handles to hide small imperfections and its a good solution.

ft. greene ville:{

if i understand your problem correctly , this air gap is between the layers of the horn ? if thats correct , my opinion would be to leave sleeping dogs lie , i understand opinions are like a$$---- everbody got one .
most all of the horns i work with have imperfections of varying degrees, work with it not against it. especally if it isn't going to alter the workings of the horn itself. :m2c:

I think you are describing a horn that is starting to delaminate, if that would be the proper term.

I have a habit of saving my horn filings. When I file a horn I sometimes do so with some paper of sorts and collect the filings and put them into small containers.

When I have an oops, I use acraglass (a small amount) with some of this 'horn filings' mixed into it. Then I apply, let dry and reshape. I'll post some pics of some of my stuff and I'll post one of a horn that I drilled through the side.

Acraglass is amazing stuff, and I think it's better than epoxy.

I too have encountered this problem. i use epoxy mixed with horn dust and found ot works well. Also works on antler using antler dust

Early this year I was making a horn about 14''long and I also came a cross with a airhole. So what to do I wondered. I cut some 2''of from the neck and made a screwtip horn.
But why use epoxy when you can also use animal glue with some horn filing dust instead or cover the neck with nicely scraped rawhide piece.If you use rawhide then it would look like a repaird horn. I've seen few original that have been fixed that way.

Fort Greene Ville said:

The question would then be will the epoxy accept the Rit dye? Has anyone tried this already? :thanks:

Click to expand...

Hi Fort Greenvill, Soggy here with my $.02 worth. I doubt if the Rit dye would take after the epoxy has set. Try mixing up a small test batch and adding the colour before it hardens. I have used the "5 minute epoxy" this way on a few wood project and it seems to work well for me. I haven't tried it on "horn" so that's why I'd try it on a small piece of "scrap" horn first.
Soggy

Color-fast magic markers in a variety of colors can be purchased from art supply stores.

On occasion I will use these 'magic markers' to imitate dirt, age, handleing or what not.

They also work well in hiding mistakes and epoxy area's.

Just my 2 cents

Just to bring this up to date. I decided on the epoxy and filled the air gap be using a veternary needle and suringe. After the curing I then filled and scraped away the excess. I have not tried dying yet for I'm still working on carvings. Other things have needed attention so I have not been working on the horn. You all know how that goes!!

Thanks again for all your thoughts!!!