Scientific American/Series 1/Volume 1/Issue 1/Making Articles in Horn

Making Articles in Horn.—The handles for knives, razors, and other articles moulded in horn, are thus made: The horn is first cut into appropriate pieces with the saw, and when heated, these are prepared with a knife or spoke-shave, to the general and size required; after which the pieces are pressed into moulds. An idea of the mould will be conveyed by imagining two dies or pieces of metal, parallel on their outer surfaces, and with a cavity sunk entirely in the one, or partially in each, according to circumstances: it is made either straight, curved, twisted, rounded, bevelled, &c, of it is engraved with some device, according to the pattern of the work to be produced. The pressure is applied to the dies by enclosing them in a kind of clamp made with a strong pair of nut crackers, but with a powerful screw at the end opposite the joint; the mould, dies, and horn are dipped in boiling water or a few minutes, and then screwed as fast as possible immediately on removing the same, and in about twenty minutes the work is ready for finishing; some handles are made of two pieces and joined together.