Yes bones can shrink over the years.
Here is a tip.
Soak the bones BEFORE you start to work it in some oil, baby oil etc. for
about 2 weeks.
You may want to try linseed oil, I have heard better success from that
oil.
Let it naturally dry out for 3 months or so, and it removes about 99.9%
chance of cracking and shifting.
I know it is a long process, but that is all I know of.
Plus that means you have to keep ready inventory of everything in
advance.
Also, to color all types of bone, leather etc, use potassium permanganate -
we sell it $18.00/lbs.
If you come up with a better method let me know.
Ric Chopra - Universal Agencies
Inc.
Tip on do it yourself horn / bone
coloring
If you can't find any potassium permanganate (in any form), however you can
use Aniline Stain, powder form/mix with wood alcohol. Really came out nice, the
bone took the color really good, different shades in different areas. I got the
info from a book by Ben Kelley, THE COMPLETE BOOK of POCKETKNIFE REPAIR...pg.
80, potassium permagante tablets. No one but him evidently knows where to get
them.
Tela & Larry Patterson
Another tip for fast bone coloring
Tip for coloring bone or antler. Tryed the hot shoe polish tip from a mag and liked the color
but it was so shalow the first time some one scratched the handle you would see white underneath so I
tryed some leather dye and it works wonders. So if I have a antler that has no
color I take out my leather dyes and get to work. The best thing is you can do
multiple colors for an aged efect and if its scratched you see more color sweet. Brandon Sawisch
Tip on storing your blade
No matter how good you take care of your knife, while hunting or enjoying
other outdoor activities, it is time to reinforce the fact that even the
best Stainless Steels are only rust resistant and not rustproof.
All blades will rust in a very short time if left in the moist sheath, or
wrapped in the oily rag under the seat of your 4x4.
If you live close to the ocean, you know how fast can any metal rust, due to
the salt always present in the air. and eventually permeating your knife
sheath.
Oiling your knife will slow this down a little bit, but not
significantly.
The trick is to dry your knife and sheath thoroughly - I leave mine on the
baseboard heater set for medium heat over night. This have cured even a
knife found in the grass after a month of rain, leather sheath was
resembling soggy moccasin and the handle was swollen out of proportion.
Good thing is to store your knife out of it's sheath, in the dry place. Some
leathers are tanned with tannin
acids which cannot be totally neutralized. Moisture in the sheath will leach
the acid onto your blade and rust follows.... Also do wipe any finger prints
of the blade - the sweat also contain acids.
There are few products which claim to make your blade rustproof : -
Renaissance Wax - White Lightning - Tuf-Cloth and Rust Free but nobody is
making the leather sheath water proof. Tip for leather. I use clear
paraffin wax (used for sealing preserves). Heat your sheath and brush melted
paraffin onto it till it is fully saturated and will not absorb any more. I
submerge the sheath in the can of melted paraffin and do even the insides,
leave it in for about 5 minutes than drain and wipe all surface excess while
hot.
It is water proof and totally non-toxic, so no to worry if you do not get it
off the blade before use. *AJH* Custom Knives & Services
Etching Instructions for Thunderforged™
Damascus
Clean the blade with Acetone
Soak in etching solution
Rinse in water & soap
Oil
Detailed Instructions
After cleaning / degreasing the blade with the Acetone, make sure that you do
not touch it with bare hands, since the oils from your fingers will harm the
results. Recommended to use tweezers and or rubber / surgical gloves.
Dip the blade, tip down, into your plastic or glass container with the premixed
etching solution.
Leave the blade in for 15 to 20 minutes. Pull the blade out and inspect how the
etch looks like. If you need a higher contrast dip the blade into the solution
for additional time, till you reached the desired contrast.
Do regularly check your bladewhile in the solution.
Once satisfied with the contrast, you pull the blade out of the solution and
immediately rinse it in luke warm water and rub hand soap on it simultaniously.
At this time you will notice that a black substance will be washing off - this
is the carbon removed during the etch.
Keep washing the blade till no more black carbon is comming off.
The next step is to oil the blade with a good quality gun oil.
Even after you have oiled it, you can go back to step one, to start all over to
reach even higher contrast if desired.
Etching solution ingredients
50% PCB Etchant Solution (available at Radio Shack®)
50% White Vinegar.
Mix together in plastic or glass container, DO NOT USE ANY METAL
container.
Etching and Heat treating instructions are included with every purchase.
(Thunderforged® is a registered trademark of Universal Agencies, Inc.) info@uai.org www.knifesupplies.com
Repairing Ivory
AcryliKey is a registered ivory repair system which has been designed by the
manufacturer, specifically, for the repair of ivory piano keys.
However, in case where the scale replacement is not an option, this system could
be possibly and succesfully used for any knife scale repairs.
Full page of Ivory repair
instructions and tips are located on the company's web page
at:
For the preserving of leather I just use a product called "FLUID FILM".
It is a lanolin based lubricant, good for everything. comes in arosol or by the gallon.
Most hardware stores carry it.