Working with cow horn...

[keith_beef]

I'm finishing off a multi-blade folder for my father-in-law. I didn't make it myself, but I dismantled an very old, rusty, badly treated knife that had been kicking around in his tool basket for about fourty years...

I put cow's horn scales on it. I'm finishing off the shape, and soon I'll be trying to polish it. What's the best way to do that?

I tried rubbing with P400 paper, but it leaves the surface white. Scraping with my Brusletto gives a much better surface. Is it worth trying P800, P1000 or P1600 paper?

After that, I reckoned I'd liberally slosh it with glycerine, following the advice of Chas over on rec.knives. Anybody here got any better ideas?

Keith.

[Martyn]

dunno about finishing, but if it's anything like buffalo horn, it stinks something awful when you put it on the belt. Pheeeeewwwww!

[Trond]

Of course it leaves it white, that is because the horn is sticky, you have to use 600-800-1000-1500, and then polish it with something like a cloth with tooth paste?
Now GO TO BED!!! :D