Buffalo Horn

[pommyphil]

Way over there in Woodwork-general "greghud" under "making a Ruger stock...." has been bandsawing a horn and polishing it.
The top half, toward the tip, looks pretty chunky and turnable.
Not wishing to reinvent the wheel, has anyone played around with it,? It looks great for finials or inlay?

Thanks in advance :) Phil

Since I started turning I find I look at trees differently, this could lead to the same with the odd ruminant:D

[mkypenturner]

Hey phil
I have made a couple of pens out of buffalo horn last year at the prossy turnout
I did put a thread up in the pen forum ,sorry can't give you a link at moment as using my mobile at moment ,polishes up great !

[orraloon]

I have used cow horn to make the string nocks on archery bows. It polishes up really well but there is a down side. The smell is really bad if you use power tools on it. Kind of like burning feathers. I started to shape them on a sander and was driven out of the shed by the smell. Hand tools are the way to go. Cutting on the lathe with a chisel would be ok but I would be hand sanding.
Regards
John

[pommyphil]

Thank you gentlemen,
I should have done a search first, heaps on here ,mostly by penturners.
Just bought a couple on ebay ( $18) so I'll suck it and see.
Yea that burnt feathers thing is gross,keratin (?) I'll stick with the skew
as far as possible. The pen blokes seem to use CA so EEE and Shellawax
should be interesting.
Phil

I found a couple of memorable quotes, but I've forgotten them.