dzsmith wrote: While we are here, anyone try using buffalo horn?
I like the color, but know nothing about it.
Dan
I've used it too and also black Ram's horn and in both cases the material is way softer than bone so much so that I question if it's any harder than plastic...
When considering horn as a material think toe nail because that's basically what it is and it's about the same hardness too.
Tusk is heavily marketed with lots of ads in the trade rags so this is what clients have been conditioned, in some cases, to ask for. This is also yet another case of the client not necessarily always being right.... far from it. They ask for Tusk because it's what they think that they know.
We encounter this likely weekly and have yet to have a client decline bone when it's explained to them why bone is superior.
I wanted to add since we have some folks here who are new to nut making that there are other threads on the OLF that go into much more detail what a great nut is and might be worth a look.
Nut making is one of the most overlooked functions that Luthiers do. For me making a nut was a necessary evil when I was back in the days of being crazed to do the final set-up of a newly built guitar. I found myself rushing through it, greatly underestimating the very high value that a decent nut provides.
At one school that I know of it's often said that you have to make about 100 nuts before you really get the hang of it. This school provides inexpensive and abundant corian for students to make practice nuts with. Corian is great for this function and can make a decent nut as well but bone is still superior.
If you are new to nut making it might be useful and prudent to get some corian drops (often free...) and practice first. When you can make a nut with:
1) Proper string spacing between the strings
2) Proper string spacing from the edge of the neck
3) Complete, gapless contact with the slot that the nut fits in and complete, gapless fit with the fret board end
4) A snug fit in the slot that the nut fits in - I like to be able to lift up the guitar a bit by just the nut before it wants to come out
5) Nut slots that are approximately 1/2 the set-back angle of a traditional acoustic guitar, around 7 - 8 degrees
6) No humps in the slots
7) Strings breaking cleanly off the leading edge of the nut slots
8) Nut slot depth cut correctly - this is a big deal and very important to player comfort as well as success
9) Slots cut to a shape that will not bind - not a fan of V shaped slots for this reason
10) Slots cut to not bind if the steward of the instrument say switched from 12's to 13's
11) All scratches sanded away
12) The ends fit flush with the sides of the neck and most excess material has been removed
13) No sharp peaks where the nut sides transition to the nut top surface, I have a PRS like this and hate it... where's my file...
14) Once scratches are sanded away the nut is polished to a gleaming shine (that kind of looks like plastic....   ) You can polish your nuts... with micro mesh pads or do what we do and make yourself a nut buffer
Once all this is said and done and the nut looks, works, and fits great I glue mine in with a small drop on the end of the fret board only. I like thick CA for this so I have lots of time to get those uber flush nut sides perfectly positioned left to right.
Final nut slot depth is cut, or at least I do after the nut is installed AND relief is set.
Using accelerator and CA to glue in a nut can impart discoloration or staining to some of the nut slots so I just hold my nuts in place for 30 seconds or so. Sorry if this is too much information and the visual is killing me here.... 
Now what I am describing here are what we call professional standards. YMMV but back in my day when I would hear that this is how the pros do it that's what I shot for too.
The 100 nut thing is of course a case by case basis and some folks will get a decent nut way faster than others. The question always remains what is the criteria for a decent nut so that's why I listed some above for those who appreciate the next level and/or what the expectation is with the paying customer crowd. Remember if you sell your stuff there is an expectation that you subscribe to professional standards - at least there is to me... Of course we see all manner of ill fitted and poorly made nuts with lots of cosmetic issues as well. But it does not have to be this way and simply going to school on say Martin or Taylor is a good way forward too.
Personally I find nut making when not rushed... to be a very enjoyable pastime and it makes me think of what it must have been like back in the day to do scrimshaw, etc.
Most of all though we go to all manner of trouble to build our creations when at the end of the day it's a tool for musicians and as such playability has to be there. Very slight differences, things that can't even be seen by most folks may represent the difference between a great nut and a so, so nut. Nut slot depth is super critical to making the instrument very easy to play.
It's amazing that something as small and seemingly inconsequential as a stinkin plastic nut excreted by Chinese injection molding equipment by the millions can make such a huge difference in playability, appearances, longevity, and ultimately value.
Nuts matter.... 
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