Official Luthiers Forum!

Hello all,
Am building a Negra flamenco and want to use black buffalo horn for the nut, saddle and tie block inlay. Should look good with Black MOP buttons on the tuners. I machined the nut and saddle on a CNC. Works out pretty sweet. My question is how can I cut my buffalo horn stock into strips suitable for use as Tie block inlay strips (2mm x 2mm x 72mm or so)? I might try a fence on a band saw after reading some other posts. Or if anyones knows of a source of black bone (or other matching material) strips in a suitable size for same let me know. The center of the inlay will be ebony with some multi line purfling between the ebony and the horn. Thanks for the help! I appreciate all of the artfull knowledge here.

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John Nowicki

I cut my tieblock strips from thin saddle blanks using a Japanese saw. A coping saw should work too I imagine. LMI sells black horn saddle blanks, only that they are 3.9mm thick so you still have lots of sanding to do.

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Build log

Thanks , I will use the Japenese saw. As usual there is no easier way. I think Black horn Tie Block inlay will look cool........

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John Nowicki

I've used it. It does look cool. Very cool.

Pretty sure that I used my bandsaw...

Actually, I think that I used ebony for the tie block.

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Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
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