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Sheep Horn Restoration

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28 September 2025, 18:06
Huvius
Sheep Horn Restoration
Afte reading whatever posts I could find on horn rejuvenation, I decided to tackle some Sheep horns.
These were left outside for a number of years so were pretty beat, dry cracking and in the case of the Dall quite sun bleached.
There is much discussion on how to do this and what to use.
Some say any oil will darken the horns too much but after testing a few options, and as these horns were so darn dry, I decided an oil would be just fine.
I ended up power washing these, letting them sun dry for a couple days and then using Old English scratch remover for light wood on them.
The OE dark wood product is much too dark - maybe I’ll try that on some African horns.

The results were pretty encouraging!

Dall



Big Horn

29 September 2025, 17:05
Fjold
Those came out great! Well done.


Frank



"I don't know what there is about buffalo that frightens me so.....He looks like he hates you personally. He looks like you owe him money."
- Robert Ruark, Horn of the Hunter, 1953

NRA Life, SAF Life, CRPA Life, DRSS lite

30 September 2025, 05:18
30.06king
Looking good.
Do you have any pre-treatment pics ?


Hunting.... it's not everything, it's the only thing.
30 September 2025, 20:38
Huvius
I think I’ll try to thin this with alcohol and spray it next time.
I initially used a gauze cloth bit it snags so badly I switched to a toothbrush. These old dry horns can soak up quite a bit of liquid.

This is the Dall horn before and after.






The Big horn midway.


01 October 2025, 14:47
30.06king
quote:
Originally posted by Huvius:
I think I’ll try to thin this with alcohol and spray it next time.
I initially used a gauze cloth bit it snags so badly I switched to a toothbrush. These old dry horns can soak up quite a bit of liquid.

This is the Dall horn before and after.

Thankyou for the pics. Yes, definitely very weathered horns. Looks like the oiling is very worthwhile.






The Big horn midway.




Hunting.... it's not everything, it's the only thing.