Softening horn with vinager?

[Dutch Blacky]

There are actually offers of some very interesting powder flasks in eBay. Among these flasks there is one manufactured in Austria.  (https://www.ebay.de/itm/266266425976?hash=item3dfeb73a78:g:d8cAAOSwbFxkanRZ)

Powderflaskhunter, a collector from the Netherlands, is writing:
"...... typical Austrian made powder flask - or horn.
It has been manufactured around the 1840`s most likely in Vienna (Wien).
The body consists of 2 halves of pressed lanthorn.
Did you know they manufacturers used vinegar to soften the horn?!"

Does anybody among you know some more about this old technique?

[Tim Crosby]

 Never heard of that. If cold that would be one thing but if the vinegar had to be heated I would think it would work like water. Worth a try.
 I did straighten a piece of Whitetail antler once by soaking it in vinegar but that took 3 months.

    Tim 

[Dutch Blacky]

Maybe @feltwad would know more about  the method of softening horn using vinager?

[TDM]

Always heard and read that hot oil was used in colonial times. But I suppose hot vinegar would work. But it would be more about the temperature working the horn. I don’t remember the exact temperature, but horn has to be heated above a certain point for it to forget it’s previous form. Above the boiling temperature of oil would do that.

[Robert Wolfe]

I don't know about horn, but vinegar can be used to soften antler so that it can be straightened (or bent).

[rich pierce]

I don't know about horn, but vinegar can be used to soften antler so that it can be straightened (or bent).

Good point. Antler had collagen which is denatured by acid. Horn is keratin and I think less affected by acid. 

[bigsmoke]

I don't know about vinegar, but I sure do like to use a heat gun to soften horn.  Thousands done and no cracks yet.
'Nuff said.
John (Bigsmoke)

[Cory Joe Stewart]

The ancient greeks used vinegar to soften ivory and then would form it into shapes for altars. 

Cory Joe

[Dave B]

I was talking with a man at the CLA show about restoration work on European pieces that were missing Ivory ribbon as a scroll inlet into the wood.  He said he used vinager to soften ivory/bone it to bend it to fit the mortice cut. It firms up when it dries. I thought he was pulling my leg at the time. Guess not.

[rich pierce]

Ivory, like bone, has some collagen in it., which can be denatured by acid.  Horn is made of a different protein, keratin. Not sure how a mild acidity d would work on it.

[Frozen Run]

Has anyone here tried using cleaning vinegar, the higher acidic vinegar sold in the bleach aisle?

[Jeff Murray]

A lot of the "pliability" of horn depends on the thickness of the horn.  Horns scraped thin are pretty easy to "round" at the base.  Thicker horns just don't cooperate.

[Top Jaw]

Horn wall thickness definitely plays a roll.  As well as how much you have to round it.  If your rounding a mostly round base, a heat gun will work.  If your making a flat horn in a press, or rounding a thicker or more oval base, it’s important to get beyond the “memory” heat point (roughly 325 to 350F).  I prefer hot oil in these cases.  Some stubborn horns I have had to “round” twice.  Initially a rough rounding to work the horn down further.  Followed by a final rounding to set the base shape and turn a base end.  I also leave the more stubborn oval horns on a sizer when I’m not working on them. Until I finally get the bass plug installed.  And a sizer shaped more like a bullet works better for these ovals, as it doesn’t leave a hard edge

[davec2]

When I was a kid (~12) I confounded my teacher at school by putting an egg in a milk bottle that had a neck much smaller than the egg.  I had soaked the raw egg in vinegar until the shell became translucent and very rubbery.  I squeezed it through the neck on the bottle and then let the vinegar evaporate.  The egg hardened up just like it had been originally.  Eventually I had to shake the bottle hard enough to break the egg to prove it was a real egg.

My next trick was to slice a banana crosswise several times inside the skin and without cutting the skin.  When a schoolmate peeled the banana, it fell out of the skin in slices.  Never did tell him how that happened.....