Kailash Horn Pricing Update

[Kailash Blades]

We all love buffalo horn. When polished it has a deep beauty to it and when unpolished it's startlingly tough and practical. Add onto that the fact that it's locally sourced and a byproduct of the meat industry it's a winner.
However in recent years good horn has been getting harder to find.

Around this time of the year there has historically been a large influx of horn after the mass sacrificing of buffalo during Dashain but this has been on a downwards trend. Production is struggling to meet demand and this is pushing horn prices up nationwide.
Furthermore we are quite demanding with our horn. Rather than taking bulk bags we hand pick each piece individually to ensure they're of a quality that matches the rest of the blade and the correct size for our various large handles. This limits the available horn to us further and also makes us a bit less popular with horn sellers who just want their horn out the door quickly. We've been trying to be less fussy with the horn but the available quality has dropped a lot and we're rejecting a large portion of what we're receiving.

In order to ensure we can keep offering high quality horn in future we've made some changes:

- Horn is no longer available on our largest handles as we can't reliably source it. This affects XL sirupate, XL chitlange, cleaver and mk1 handles. We may get a suitable piece from time to time but it will be reserved for custom enquiries.

- Horn prices have been raised across the board. Handles that require smaller pieces (spurs, regents) have seen smaller increases while handles that demand the largest pieces (rat tail full sized khukuris) have seen the most increases. This reflects the difficulty in sourcing these larger pieces as well as the higher rejection rate involved in making them.

Hopefully after these changes we'll have demand that lines up better with the availability of this material while also enabling us more leverage with suppliers to ensure we can get priority access to the best horn available.

Thanks for your continued support,
The team at Kailash

 

[kafolarbear]

Hi, I recently got a Historical Issue Kukri from you guys with a horn handle. I'm absolutely in love with the looks and feel of the kukri and am looking forward to putting it to work soon. I noticed there are a couple very thin cracks in the handle, ranging from 1/8th of an inch long to 1.5 inches long, all characterized by thin white lines in the black horn material as well as white lines that don't appear to be cracks yet but I wouldn't be shocked if they opened up with some use. I don't mind the cracks, I would just like to know if they would need to be repaired, if I can expect the cracks to become bigger with use and if I should worry about the handle breaking if I leave the cracks unattended.

 

[Kailash Blades]

Hey there!
The white lines you're describing are something that have had the team puzzled for some time. While we don't fully understand what they are yet we feel that they're part of the natural grain of the handle material. However we do have a feeling that they're weaker than the surrounding horn and that these white lines are areas where individual horn fibre strands have delaminated or not grown properly etc. It's possible that these areas could open up into small cracks in future but in our experience with horn it is very uncommon for any cracks that develop to compromise the integrity of the handle overall.
In order to keep the cracks at their current size (or even close them up slightly) the best movie is to keep the horn nicely fed. We use mineral oil, however if hooflex is locally available it has very good feedback. Mineral oil should be applied with plenty of excess- the horn will drink it up. you can keep applying it every few days for a week and it can do wonders for horn.
If you'd like to fill any larger cracks this can be done with super glue- it dries clear and is best applies then wiped flush against the surface so that no sanding is required. Clear 2 part epoxy is also a good solution and can be wiped flush with solvent more easily.
Take care,
Andrew and the team at Kailash

 

[kafolarbear]

Hey there!
The white lines you're describing are something that have had the team puzzled for some time. While we don't fully understand what they are yet we feel that they're part of the natural grain of the handle material. However we do have a feeling that they're weaker than the surrounding horn and that these white lines are areas where individual horn fibre strands have delaminated or not grown properly etc. It's possible that these areas could open up into small cracks in future but in our experience with horn it is very uncommon for any cracks that develop to compromise the integrity of the handle overall.
In order to keep the cracks at their current size (or even close them up slightly) the best movie is to keep the horn nicely fed. We use mineral oil, however if hooflex is locally available it has very good feedback. Mineral oil should be applied with plenty of excess- the horn will drink it up. you can keep applying it every few days for a week and it can do wonders for horn.
If you'd like to fill any larger cracks this can be done with super glue- it dries clear and is best applies then wiped flush against the surface so that no sanding is required. Clear 2 part epoxy is also a good solution and can be wiped flush with solvent more easily.
Take care,
Andrew and the team at Kailash

Thanks for the quick and detailed response, Andrew. How often should I be applying mineral oil? Is it just several days over the course of a single week and I'm good for a long time or should it be a continuous process? Also I assume the more broad milky streaks in the horn shouldn't be a cause for concern in terms of the integrity of the handle?

 

[Kailash Blades]

Thanks for the quick and detailed response, Andrew. How often should I be applying mineral oil? Is it just several days over the course of a single week and I'm good for a long time or should it be a continuous process? Also I assume the more broad milky streaks in the horn shouldn't be a cause for concern in terms of the integrity of the handle?

It really depends on usage, environment and also the particular horn piece. maybe it's quite thirsty or maybe it's not.
You can approach the oiling process in either way. You can give it a big soak every 6 months or so or you can oil it lightly once a week. The latter might be more convenient if you're using your blade and reoiling it frequently also.
A sure sign that the horn needs oiling is if you can see any signs of shrinkage. This can most easily be seen at the intersection points of metal parts such as the bolster, buttcap or in the case of full tang- the spine. These would have been flush at the time of making and if there is a step, shoulder or space to appear then this is likely shrinkage.
As far as we can tell the larger milky streaks are a different phenomenon- potentially related to pigment inside the horn. I've heard from those involved in antiques that blacker horn was preferred historically. At the same time the current desire for streaky horn would surely be dampened if there was a pattern of problems with such marbled pieces. We've not noted any increased incidence of small cracks or large failures in streaky horn over the years- it could just be a matter of aesthetic preferences shifting over time.
Take care,
Andrew and the team at Kailash

 

[kafolarbear]

It really depends on usage, environment and also the particular horn piece. maybe it's quite thirsty or maybe it's not.
You can approach the oiling process in either way. You can give it a big soak every 6 months or so or you can oil it lightly once a week. The latter might be more convenient if you're using your blade and reoiling it frequently also.
A sure sign that the horn needs oiling is if you can see any signs of shrinkage. This can most easily be seen at the intersection points of metal parts such as the bolster, buttcap or in the case of full tang- the spine. These would have been flush at the time of making and if there is a step, shoulder or space to appear then this is likely shrinkage.
As far as we can tell the larger milky streaks are a different phenomenon- potentially related to pigment inside the horn. I've heard from those involved in antiques that blacker horn was preferred historically. At the same time the current desire for streaky horn would surely be dampened if there was a pattern of problems with such marbled pieces. We've not noted any increased incidence of small cracks or large failures in streaky horn over the years- it could just be a matter of aesthetic preferences shifting over time.
Take care,
Andrew and the team at Kailash

Thanks for your time and responses, both were incredibly helpful

 

[Grizzly3]

A good rule of thumb might be to add some mineral oil when you do your kitchen cutting boards and wooden knife handles. They will soak up the mineral oil which gives them their shine and glow back. I just did my horn handle and so far it has not soaked it up like the wood, but I'll just let it set a while and check it later in the day. If it hasn't soaked it up, I'll just wipe it down with a paper towel and call it good. At least this way, you have a reminder of when to oil it. Cutting boards start to look dry, especially in their centers where you do the most cutting, when they need oil. I've had this 9" mini now for about 6 months and it is not absorbing much mineral oil. Reading this thread was a reminder to add some oil in case it did need some.

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