Thread: Antelope Horn Scales

This is a project that I started about 2 weeks ago now...
I was looking at a lot of really nice custom horn scaled razors, on this and other forums, and remembered that I had a set of antelope horns that have been collecting dust since I took them back in 1992...These horns have some sentimental value to me, as they are from the single longest shot that I have made to date. I took this antelope on the eastern prairies of Colorado with a custom .308 that I made for myself, the shot was 882 yards, just over a half mile, so the horns are kinda special to me... I always said that I was going to make a set of knife handles out of them, but never got around to it.... I finally found a great use for them now, as razor scales, here are some pics of the work so far...

One of the raw horns....



After cutting and sanding, these are the rough blanks...




I had to figure out how to seal the horn, because antelope horn is s little different from other horns, not only is it very fibrous, they are also the only creature that drops it's horns (not antlers) I used a clear epoxy to seal them.....





I decided on using pure silver for the wedge, I got this from a local jeweler for a song, it was an outdated one ounce gift piece, I actually pounded it into the wedge shape with an anvil and sledge......





I'll keep adding to this thread, as it gets closer and closer to completion....

Sweet I've been itching to get a goat with my TC contender... Now I have another reason (besides good eats)

I've been saving up coin silver for wedges, your onto a better source I think...

This deserves a real manly blade. Can't wait to see what you do with these. Nice job!

X

Man I can't wait to see what the finished product looks like.... Opening season is a few weeks... I hope I get the 10 pointer this year.... I already know what I want to do with them....

Now I don't know if it qualifies as "Manly", but I got a Dubl Duck, Special, #1, the other day, which of course has the typical DD warped scales. Instead of fixing the warped scales, I decided that this blade was going in these Antelope scales.

The DD blade almost finished with polishing......



The set of scales a the rough formed wedge are going together today after everything sets up I'll finish them and attach the blade.....




This is a little backward from how, I believe most people, would do this, I would guess that most would finish the scales, then put the entire razor together. I would normally do it this way too, but I want to make double sure that no water can touch the horn as it would cause expansion and destroy the whole project....

Jeez I need more hours in the day!!!
This project has really been a bear to finish, it involved way more planning and work then I ever imagined....

I have the high gloss finish applied I did the last coat (8 in all) this morning before work, so if everything goes as planned I'll set the pins on Wednesday morning and hone and strop Wednesday night and get to finally shave with it on Thursday morning

I finally got time to go in the shop and finish this one up

Here is a pic of all the parts ready to go...


The wedge pin set...


And the Finished Razor...


And some more....





I guess I'll finish stropping it in the morning, and try it out, If it is anywhere near as good as my other DD blades I think I'm gonna love this one......
It still needs the final buffing on the finish, I have a special cutting compound that I use on gunstocks that really will bring out the depth of the finish, but that will be sometime this weekend after the polyacrylic hardens completely

Oober drool

Damn, nice shot! What a fitting way to commemorate it- something you'll use all the time

Very nice Glen turned out really nice.