Buffalo horn nut & saddle?

funkyjedi

funkyjedi

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My father in law is a seasoned veteran of making knives with different types of wood and bone/antler handles. Last night he gave me a chunk of buffalo horn that i was kicking around making a replacement nut and saddle for my two ukes.

Any thoughts? Both the nuts and saddles on my ukes now look to be plastic that came out of a mold... so I will need to cut and shape, etc. But as far as material goes, anyone think that buffalo horn might not make for a good nut/saddle combo? It seems very dense and it just really pretty.

Anyway, thought I'd throw it out there and see what people say.

thanks.
 
Sure, why not, give it a whirl. If you don't like it, you can always switch back, or try something else, like bone, or Corian.
 
Whether it's suitable for your ukulele or not is depended upon what sound you are after. Water buffalo horn is really pretty soft. I personally don't care for it as a saddle material as the tone tends to be rather muted. Along the same lines, since your dad is a knife maker he is likely to have some micarta which would be worth experimenting with as well. You don't have anything to lose by trying different materials.
 
How easy is it to rip off thin sheets of buffalo horn? Will a regular band saw blade do the trick?
 
I was looking at the micarta, basically a plastic thats laminated to linen, paper, etc. I will see what he has, and if he has none, Im sure a local woodworking store would have some for pen blanks, etc.

The horn I have is from bison, i believe, not water buffalo, i don't know if makes a dif. I will cut it up and see what happens. I appreciate the ideas. He also had some bighorn sheep horn he offered, it didnt seem as dense as the buffalo, but still seemed dense. I was kicking around switching my duts and saddles out for tusq, but figured Id see what else might work that I can get for a trip to my in-laws. Besides, I ususally get a nice meal while I'm there. :)
 
I made a nut out of buffalo horn for my vintage Martin. I could have done a better job and have been thinking about replacing it. I want a black nut and the only material I could find in black is "tusq" from stew mac. What would be the best material to use for my new nut and where can I get it. Thanks
 
If it's just a dinner you're after, have your mother in law make you some soup and take home the bone. You'd be better off with that than with the buffalo horn IMO.
 
Pukulele Pete said:
I made a nut out of buffalo horn for my vintage Martin. I could have done a better job and have been thinking about replacing it. I want a black nut and the only material I could find in black is "tusq" from stew mac. What would be the best material to use for my new nut and where can I get it. Thanks
Click to expand...

You can get micarta in black but I don't know how that compares to Tusq. I'd go to your local counter top dealer and get a scrap of black corian. Corian is pretty hard and I like it as a saddle material.
 
Moore Bettah Ukuleles said:
If it's just a dinner you're after, have your mother in law make you some soup and take home the bone. You'd be better off with that than with the buffalo horn IMO.
Click to expand...

In the words of Carl Weathers: "You see this bone? You take that home, throw it in some boiling water--and you got a stew going, baby!"


awesome. I will most definitely do some looking around for harder stuff. Thank you for all the replies! This place is the best.
 
If you can get antler use it, I've worked with antler a whole lot and it is very hard material denser than most bone not as porous.
 
Some antler such as red deer has a porous almost honeycombed core. Reindeer on the other hand is dense and probably very well suited to use as a nut or saddle. As to getting some look at knife making suppliers as they supply reindeer antler for scandinavian style knife handles.

Cheers

Gerry
 
Do a google for highland horn. They are a Scottish family business which are the best source of cow horn and antler.

Horn is used for the nocks on longbows.

6sc
 
I use Axis Deer antler since they are plentiful and rut year around so sheds are easy to find year around. Axis deer antler is very dense to the core almost like ivory. Not sure how dense the mainland Whitetail, or Mule deer antlers are.
 
well if you don't use the buffalo horn for a saddle, you could always cut/carve it into picks. Makes totally killer guitar picks that my partner swears are about as close to tortoise shell as you can get these days.
 
Would anyone be able to give a sort of tutorial or point me to a source demonstrating how to take whatever material and make it into nuts?
 
Moore Bettah Ukuleles said:
You're all missing the point. The OP simply wants an excuse to mooch a free meal from the in-laws!
Click to expand...


Crap. Busted. :)

No, I just happened to get some buffalo horn and was wondering if anyone had used it. I have access to mule deer, elk, big horn sheep and ivory veneers taken from a piano. My father in law has said I could use any of it. I liked the look of the buffalo horn as it was jet black and shiney. I am going to shape some of it up and see how it sounds. The elk and mule deer are very porus at the center, and I don't know if there is enough of the enamel side to make a nut and saddle, but I will see how much I can scrape together. I also have a pretty good friend that owns a taxidermy shop, and I know he typically has odds and ends that might work..

I have a couple of cheap ukes to play with, I am not sure if I want to switch the nut and saddle out on my new Kala KA-TKE. I bloody love that uke. the saddle on it looks like molded plastic, but I need to check the specs.
I'll try and get some sounds bites and pics up pre and post... maybe a little frankenlele.
 
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