Well, you must put your final touches to the horn or hoof with simple chamois or prepared wash-leather, and after this it ought to shine as if waxed.
You will know by this time that in a horn there is a densely solid tip, and also at the other end a hollow part. The thinner end is used for making combs, etc. It is softened in boiling water, then exposed to a flame till partially fluid, then cut into the shapes desired. In this state the horn can be pulled flat if wished. After it has been pressed and prepared, the piece of horn, comb, or whatever it happens to be, is scraped and polished in the way we have described.
A great many useful articles are made from the solid or tip portion of horns, a great many useful and very beautiful articles, some of which are turned by the lathe, while others are cut. Whip-handles, stick and umbrella handles, and handles for knives and small tools, may be made from horn and afterwards scraped and polished. Goats’ and sheep’s horns are clearer and more transparent than those of the ox. They are not more easy to work on that account, however, but being clear they take staining better. They should be polished before being stained.
I am not sure whether those useful liquid dyes that are sold in the shops would do for staining horn, bone, or ivory, because I have never tried them, but I think if used boiling hot and the articles to be stained thereby were immersed in them for some time, the stain would be permanent. You see I have classed bone, horn, and ivory together, because in this case what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. Here are receipts for a few stains:—
Black.—You may stain these substances black, and wood also, by frequent immersion in hot ink, or by leaving them for a few days in the ink, or in a solution of nitrate of silver, twenty grains to the ounce.
The latter preparation is poison, remember, and it will burn and stain the clothes or anything it may come in contact with.
Black may also be got by boiling in a strong decoction of logwood, and afterwards placing in a bath of acetate of iron.
Purple.—This colour is obtained by boiling in a strong decoction of logwood and alum until the proper tint is acquired. It must be done in an enamelled saucepan, else the colour will be a failure.
Red.—You may steep the article in hot red ink, letting it lie for a day or two. See that you get the best and brightest ink procurable. But you may also get a nice colour by first steeping for ten minutes in dilute nitric acid, then immersing in a decoction of cochineal or cochineal dissolved in liquid ammonia.
Scarlet.—This colour is acquired if you steep the articles or boil them in a decoction of brazil-wood or in madder, and then in a solution of muriate of tin.