Buffalo Boss horn grip caps How I make them

[Gert Odendaal]

Good day to all members. Here is a short tutorial of how I make buffalo horn grip caps for hunting rifles.
A few photos of making buffalo grip caps:
Step one:
Draw a ellipse according to the desired shape and measurement on a piece of paper, paste on a thin piece of metal plate and cut out, use this as your template:

Step two:
Cut out shape with band saw:

Sand along the lines of the profile, make sure the sanding work is done to a smooth surface for correct router work.

A few examples I did :

Usually the dimensions of a grip cap on a custom build hunting rifle stock is standard, especially if you use a duplicator and decided on a specific profile/pattern.

Johan Greyling is keeping with a specific stock design since he is building .404 Jeffery rifles and 8x68S rifles on order. I do make two dimensions , a large and medium elliptic design I draw to fit the grip of the rifle stocks.

I am currently at stage one , making the grip caps, stage two will be polishing the grip caps and sand down to required thickness. However there will still be some finishing work be needed after the grip caps are secured to the rifle stock.

I still need to see the end result , that is why I want to build myself a .404 Jeffery rifle stock with a buffalo grip cap and fore end as in the examples shown in the pictures. The fore-end is going to be difficult since only a portion of the Buffalo horn at the ends have a solid and broad enough piece to fit as a fore-end of a rifle.

I still need to get a price for these caps. I will upload some photos of these caps when polished.

Had some time to make a few Buffalo boss horn grip caps ..these grip caps really have a rugged surface and will look beautiful on a rifle..
A nice piece of buffalo boss horn:

Sanding down the bottom part :

Tracing the final shape"

Flat sanded bottom:

A few pieces cut to form ready to be sanded to shape:

Close up of a buffalo boss grip cap surface:

A few completed:

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Very nice.

 

[Gert Odendaal]

Thank you for the positive reply, it is much appreciated Phoenix Phil..here is a photo where you can see how rough the texture of the buffalo boss horn is...

 

[mdwest]

Love this!

Nice work Gert!

 

[nztimb]

Great to see you going ahead with these projects Gert.
A couple of things I do that mght help you is to make a Suplimentary top for the bandsaw out of mdf and this has helped with the very small pieces not getting stuck in the wider bade slot of the bandsaw table. I also cut the buffao horn in strips or at the least oblongs that suit the size of the cap and this allows my to cut the piece to a common thickness and simplifies later work with them. Takes a steady hand but well worth the time it takes for the help on the finished cap.
Are you going to make them as a common thickness with just slightly rounded edges or are you going to shape the edges via files or a router

 

[sambarhunter]

And I appreciate you taking the time to load and post the many photos.

 

[Gert Odendaal]

Thank you members, it really s nice to get positive replies in this regards. Garry, these particular buffalo boss horn pieces have an extremely rough texture/surface..I will spoil it`s appearance if I have to router the edges as I did with previous buffalo horn caps...with smoother surfaces...the thickness I will leave as is with a flat sanded bottom..hunters/rifle builders who order these buffalo grip caps will have to final fit it to the rifle stock they build ....if requested I can cut a smoother surfaced buffalo horn and router the edges so it will be a final fit project..

 

[Gert Odendaal]

And I appreciate you taking the time to load and post the many photos.

Sambarhunter, I am a sucker for uploading many photos, I love taking photos to enhance a topic or description in a post...the more photos the the better the explanation...

 

[Gert Odendaal]

Love this!

Nice work Gert!

Thank you Dave , yes, I really like to work with this type of natural materials like buffalo horn and Giraffe bone as well as with our beautiful indigenous woods like Tambotie, Wild Olive and the Combrethum species of wood that have excellent qualities.
Giraffe bone and Lebombo Yster hout:

 

[Gert Odendaal]

Good, I spend today some time on making/cutting/sanding more buffalo boss horn grip caps:I will be completing a few more this coming week..then I have to polish every grip cap..will upload photos of the finished product.....

 

[Gert Odendaal]

Spend some time today to polish some of the grip caps ..tomorrow I will take a few of the polished ones and router them...just to see how it looks...keep in mind these grip caps are way to thick at this stage..but I want to leave it as is since the person who order them can tailor fit it himself if he wanted to..

 

[PARA45]

Wow, beautiful work!

 

[yumastepside]

....excuse my ignorance, but what do you use the Giraffe bone for and why?.....some pics?

Roger

 

[Gert Odendaal]

I appreciate your participation and questions regarding the buffalo grip caps and Giraffe bone..the front legs of a Giraffe is actually not bone as you and I know it..it is ivory ...this ensure the Giraffe to be able to drink water in bending his two front legs and absorb a lot of tonnage and weight on the front legs ..this is why the front bones are made from ivory to be stronger than normal animal bone like that of a cow or other animals...the ivory bone structure is extremely thick as well...you can color the Giraffe ivory bone and use it as great looking knife scales or handles . Knife scale handles are the most popular items made of Giraffe bone ...inlay-work and rifle sight ivory beads is another product

 

[Wheels]

It is enjoyable to watch a master at work.

Thanks for the thread Gert.

 

[yumastepside]

Thanks Gert, that was something I obviously didn't know.........like the old adage.......if you don't ask, you don't find out....

Roger

 

[Gert Odendaal]

Wheel

It is enjoyable to watch a master at work.

Thanks for the thread Gert.

Wheels, good to hear from you again, Wheels, no not a Master at work, just a simple student trying my hand at things that interest me, and when I encounter a difficulty I turn to the knowledgeable craftsmen like Von Gruff or at home my mentor friend Johan Greyling. I found that cutting the Giraffe bone on a table saw works just great..it cuts as smooth as a hardwood type I use for knife scales , it does not burn at all while it is being cut..this enable me to cut thin slices as well. No need to cut it only with a band saw.It is hard work cutting Giraffe bone with a band saw . The buffalo boss grip caps is another material I use to cut on the table saw...although using a band saw minimise your chances to trim your fingers while cutting so close on a small piece of buffalo horn material. Another knowledgeable crafts man friend of mine Ian Mills whom always have a simple answer /solution to difficult questions gave me some enzymes I now use to clean the sinew /left over meat from the Giraffe bone ..the enzymes really eats away every piece of morsel and left me with a beautiful clean piece of Giraffe bone to work with.

 

[yumastepside]

I assume that the giraffe bone would have the same import/export restrictions as ivory?

Roger

 

[Gert Odendaal]

I do not think Giraffe bone will be considered as "ivory" since there is not a market for it as "ivory" except by knife makers.another issue is that I do not think it can be processed like the carving fraternity in the orient use it..any natural material you want to ship to other countries need to go through customs..some countries like Australia I know is extremely strict in this regards. I have previously send natural materials to New Zealand ..customs did quarantine and fumigated it for a considered amount of money to the owner who received it.
I will like to see what differences there are between Ivory and the Giraffe bone ...if I get hold of a licence piece of elephant ivory I will cut it , process it and take some photos upload it for discussion , it would be quite interesting. Let me see what I can do...

 

[nztimb]

With those enzymes cleaning the giraffe bone, maybe we wont have to go through the fumigation process this time Gert, although I expect they will do it as a matter of course with the bark on the buff horn being thier main issue