I am practicing putting a horn forend tip on a Mauser stock. I've got two issues, one is voids on the tip and the other is shown in the
picture here




I don't know the right terminology, but it looks like I've exposed a boundary between two laminated sections. Has anyone ever deal with this
before successfully? I've been thinking that coating the area with a clear expoxy and sanding it down may be the way to go.

Fred

Fred, I think super glue will fix this void, quickly.

I use epoxy colored to match the surrounding area to repair those kind of voids and delaminations and have had good results.

Thanks, I had tried superglue without success, today I tried epoxy, I put it on before work and sanded it after. My
thumbnail now slides over the delamination area without on the edge Thank you so much SKB.

Fred

here is a picture of the tip after the expoxy and sanding to 1000 grit

Good deal!

I did move away from using cow horn for repairs and replacements in favor of Water Buffalo horn. It has a lot of things going for it . you can obtain it in jet black or black with fine white streaks, though the best points are that it carves and shapes like Ivory with no delamination's or internal splits plus it is really hard, you tat turn it on a lathe like metal. It has become more available on this side of the pond because of the growing Mozzarella Cheese usage.

What does water buffalo horn have to do with Mozzarella?

Maybe, look up Mozzarella di bufala? That's supposed to the original good stuff, I'd imagine regular water buf, probably in not so exotic places, makes for a trendy substitute. The milk farmers probably have a side market in the craft industry?

Mozzarella is made from water buffalo milk.

Living in a dairy farming area as I do I had w word with a Farmer friend about water buffalo and Mozzarella cheese. Most of the Mozzarella cheese we see today is made from cows milk though due to us Brits holidaying all over Europe and finding that Pizza made with Buffalo milk is far superior increasing demand for real Buffalo Mozzarella Cheese. This is starting to save the small Cheshire farmers from the dire straights they where in due to the UK joining the European union. According to my Farmer friend there are two European types of domesticated Water buffalo one that requires to spend time in water and the other that can take it or leave it, African Water Buffalo are Death on four legs so no chance of milking them though the domesticated breeds are large and can end your life if you are not careful with them. So as it stands today milking herds of water Buffalo are now springing up hear and in many European countries because of the high value of the milk. As like all farming enterprise when a animal is past its best a quick visit to the abattoir so horn becomes available though not in great quantities yet but growing.

I learn something every time I come here. I had no idea water buffalo existed outside the south Pacific. Game animals in Australia, draft animals in the Philippines, that sort of thing.

That is the African Cape Buffalo. Not the same animal as Water Buffalo at all.

I never imagined when I started this thread that it would take such interested turns. I did not picture it turning to cheese.
Now, I am going to turn it into an even more strange direction, dog treats... Looking for water buffalo horn on ebay, I found this

water buffalo horn dog chew toys


For those people that actually make horn forend tips, do you buy these and turn them into forend tips?

One of the members here, from Alaska, frequently sells nice water buffalo horn on ebay.

He sells under the handle jojodo, and, I believe, helped the Petrov family deal with some of Michael's "stuff".

https://www.ebay.com/itm/203538395488?hash=item2f63d57160:g:NuYAAOSwTxJc-Zor

https://www.ebay.com/str/jodotargetarms?_trkparms=folent%3Ajodotargetarms%7Cfolenttp%3A1&_trksid=p3542580.m47492.l74602

Deleted by poster

My dog chews a lot of things, I hope in the future that you will give better contributions.

Fred, while looking at those Ebay offerings of water buffalo horn, one of them looked as if the section of horn was hollow. If you decide to buy any of these for your dog, could you please let us know if they are indeed hollow, or if there is enough solid material that they might be suitable for things like buffalo horn forearm tips or buttplates? They seem pretty reasonably priced compared to blocks of horn that I've seen for sale. Thanks.

I buy water buffalo horn in block form from Joe D who is a member of this forum. I have bought larger sections of horn in the past, much of it is hollow and not suitable for gun work.

You need to get another piece of horn and start over

Some of the dog chews looked like very young water buffalo, but others were more like Gauer(?), also a different species of buffalo. The mature buffalo in Viet Nam had horns several feet long. I brought a pair back that were a couple feet long, but considered them small.
Mike

Der Ami .There is the very sad truth about Dairy farming. Male calf's are of no real value and a cost to feed when their mothers start milking again, their fate is sealed with just a few going on for meat production and the majority go for slaughter even then their carcasses are of very little value. Maybe ext time you pour some Milk you will at least know a little of its true cost.

Veal Piccata, Veal Parmesan, etc, etc. I love veal dishes. I think of them not as an expense to dairy farmers, but an unrecognized dividend of the industry. I wonder how come veal dishes are not sold at a discount to hungry consumers like myself?...Geo

Well George I am sure you have come across the saying the British are a race of animal lovers and as far as it goes Veal meat is produced in a way that is anathema to most Brits. Keeping a calf in a crate so small that the animal can not move around or sit down and feed it on milk that is used to produce the palest veal does not go down well with the majority of the Brit public and a lot of Dairy farmers who are of the opinion it is not good animal husbandry. So veal crates are now band here in the UK. The industry have tried to sell a type of Veal called rosy or pink using slightly larger crates that allow a little movement of the animal, Brits with a modicum of intelligence can work out the difference between bad husbandry and cruelty so veal is not welcome in many of the shops having sales with the trajectory of a lead balloon. You can still purchase it if you want it with some effort though it will be produced in Europe where they have a lower regard for animal welfare. I am not a veterinarian though Veal is not a thing I would eat at all, even a captive bolt in the brain is a far kinder thing to life in a small crate that is so inhumane in my personal view. But it is a large world and one mans food is another mans poison so if people wish to eat Veal who am I to complain.

While I enjoy veal dishes, I abhor the method the calves are handled to produce it. Likewise, I like goose liver pate but think the force feeding is cruel. I love a hotdog at a ball game but would probably never eat another one if I visited a factory. I'd like to see the veal industry better regulated from a humane point of view and I think the Pate de Foie Gras production has already been regulated. As for hotdogs and sausage we're probably stuck with what we have. Mr. Damascus, I appreciate you're sharing the British background on the subject...Geo

Hmmm, haven't had a good osso buco in while. With a long slow braise, who knows, might turn free range calves into a chewy delicacy.

My Sicilian grandmother has been gone a long while now but her veal parm was to die for.

Well....

What you waiting on ?

Hi Keith

I plan to buy some of those ebay horns, and will let you know. With regard to the horn blocks, while they aren't cheap, they aren't that bad either
when you consider that if you buy a piece of horn, you will have to shape it into a block and that will take some time. And you may find that it has problems.
That being said, a friend mentioned that " Howe would glue round horn plugs in the sling swivel area, then drill them and install swivel into the horn. The horn is much tougher than walnut and once screwed in it’s like there welded." So I would like to have some horn cheaply enough that I could try this.


Fred