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The Newbies Arena Are you new to knife making? Here is all the help you will need.

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  #1  
Old 05-17-2007, 08:20 AM
sword sword is offline
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Question stabilizing bone and horn ?

I am thinking of trying to stabilize some bone and have a couple questions
1. what bone is better cow or pig ?
2. what bone - leg, lower leg, rib ect. ?
3. what to stabilize with ( i am gonna try wood sealer but also looking for an oil type finish)
4. any info on stabilizing horn (not antler) ?
5. I will be using a vacuum set up with a 25 hg cap. is this enough?
yes Ray i tried a search and either got 200 results (mostly on wood ) or some really promising looking ones that led to dead links
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  #2  
Old 05-17-2007, 08:25 AM
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NJStricker NJStricker is offline
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Some have had luck getting cow bones from pet stores. Already cleaned and dried, you just need to cut your scales and sand some flats. As for stabilization--why not? It works for wood, so it should work for bone.
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  #3  
Old 05-17-2007, 08:40 AM
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Ray Rogers Ray Rogers is offline
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Yes, stabilizing works great for bone and horn. I have sent out lots of cow bone, buffalo horn, ivory, and even some type of antelope horn to be profesionally stabilized.

1. any bone that is the right size is a possibility but it must be perfectly dry and have all the fat/oils removed. Bones with small diameters or large center holes are poor candidates for knife handle materials

2. any bone that is the correct size for the knives you make. A bone usually must be quite large to make flat scales from it.

3. the word 'stabilizng' and 'oil finish' don't really go together. If it's really stabilized oil won't soak into it. If it has an oil finish, then eventually, it will wear off or dry up and therefore is not truly stabilized.

4. all the same advice applies to horn

5. stabilizng works best when vacuum is alternated with periods of high pressure. 25 hg of vacuum is probably good enough, depending on the length of time it is applied and the viscosity of the stabilizing agent.

This all boils down to try it and see. From all the threads I've read I've never yet seen one that can state confidently that Process X used with Chemisty Y will give perfect results. If you want perfect, send your materials to K&G for stabilizing...


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Old 07-05-2012, 06:52 PM
Jon Kennedy Jon Kennedy is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sword View Post
I am thinking of trying to stabilize some bone and have a couple questions
1. what bone is better cow or pig ?
2. what bone - leg, lower leg, rib ect. ?
3. what to stabilize with ( i am gonna try wood sealer but also looking for an oil type finish)
4. any info on stabilizing horn (not antler) ?
5. I will be using a vacuum set up with a 25 hg cap. is this enough?
yes Ray i tried a search and either got 200 results (mostly on wood ) or some really promising looking ones that led to dead links
use the ZK-TR 90 resin and heat cure it after! it will work great on what you are doing, I would be looking into a two stage vac pump! you will be surprized on what that extra 3" of vacumm does, I run a max vacumm of 28.50"
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  #5  
Old 07-05-2012, 07:51 PM
jdale jdale is offline
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Where do you buy ZK-TR90 resin, my internet searches have yielded zilch?
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  #6  
Old 07-05-2012, 08:01 PM
Jon Kennedy Jon Kennedy is offline
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Pm me you're email and i will send you info on it
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  #7  
Old 07-05-2012, 11:04 PM
Doug Lester Doug Lester is offline
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General consensus from those who have tried it is that it is cheaper to send it out to an outfit like WSSI for stabilization unless you really want to stabilize a lot of material. I resently cut up some elk leg bone that I got from Moscow Hide and Fur a couple of years ago already cleaned and processes. Be advised, it stinks like all get out to cut and grind this stuff. I found a cutting disc on my Dremel did the best job and I managed to get a set of scales from one bone. My cold shop is down in my basement and it took two days for the smell in the main house to get down to where I couldn't smell it. Also, wear a respirator, not a dust mask. The dust from the bone was very fine and you really really don't want to get any of that stuff down in your lungs.

Forget the wood sealer or the wood hardener. You want to pump resin into the bone or whatever. Also don't count on all the wood sealers being water proof. Resisting water is not the same as repelling water and saying that something repels water doesn't say that the product is actually water proof. The MinWax wood hardener isn't water proof nor are all the superglue formulas.

Doug


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Old 07-06-2012, 07:24 PM
Cthulhu Cthulhu is offline
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Since Horn was mentioned, is there a need to treat it with anything after it's on the knife and the final sanding and buffing is done?
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  #9  
Old 07-06-2012, 07:35 PM
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Ray Rogers Ray Rogers is offline
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"Need". Not exactly, not any more than any other piece of wood or bone. If it has been stabilized as Doug described then nothing further can be done except maybe some waxing and polishing. Without stabilizing, some sort of finishing will prolong the life of the material in the same way and for the same reasons as the wide variety of finishes that commonly get used on wood. The major difference here is that those finishes eventually wear off enough to require touching up or replacement but stabilizing is permanent . By permanent I mean it will last as long as the handle material lasts which, barring accident, will be a very long time ...


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