Honey Horn vs. French Tip?

[Killgar]

In post #3 Ivano Beltrame (Belivi) explained that the tip of the horn is particularly difficult to work. I would also assume that since there isn't as much material at the tips that they can actually make handle scales out of (Ivano described that as the "most precious part"), that might explain why knives with handles made from the tip of the horn are more expensive.

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[Tom19176]

Agreed about the tip explanation...

[Bill DeShivs]

The tips of the horns are solid, but they are not very long. The colors are generally nicer in the tip.

[boots]

forgive me if I'm wrong, honey horn has the appearance of a honey texture.



And French horn tip has a greyer multicolored palate, just my observation.



Then again French horn tip can be deceiving!



button_man, I print my knife stands on my 3D printer.

[JulesVane]

Years ago, I bought these 2 Walt's Classic 2010 Limited Editions, and the seller called the one one the right as "Coffee & Cream" horn. He night as well have called it "Hot Fudge Sundae" horn lol. My point was/is, that I think we can get caught up in some of these man made terms and labels of horn colors. We can see on Walt's site, and Walt has always been a good guy, but he labels some horn as "Black & White" and some horn as "PRIMO Black & White" that gets the higher price. Pretty slabs get tossed in the expensive pile, and some make the basic pile, all at different prices, because we all like pretty horn. Likely, the exact same horn, different cuts can produce different coloring.

[boots]

Years ago, I bought these 2 Walt's Classic 2010 Limited Editions, and the seller called the one one the right as "Coffee & Cream" horn. He night as well have called it "Hot Fudge Sundae" horn lol. My point was/is, that I think we can get caught up in some of these man made terms and labels of horn colors. We can see on Walt's site, and Walt has always been a good guy, but he labels some horn as "Black & White" and some horn as "PRIMO Black & White" that gets the higher price. Pretty slabs get tossed in the expensive pile, and some make the basic pile, all at different prices, because we all like pretty horn. Likely, the exact same horn, different cuts can produce different coloring.

you're correct, I think it comes down to, does it appeal to me and how much am I willing to pay for it. ,nice knives by the way!

[whippersnapper]

forgive me if I'm wrong, honey horn has the appearance of a honey texture.



And French horn tip has a greyer multicolored palate, just my observation.



Then again French horn tip can be deceiving!



button_man, I print my knife stands on my 3D printer.

Nobody will ever agree but I always called the clearer more translucent ones with very little white/brown/black in them honey horn.

[JulesVane]

Sold years ago as "Honey horn", apparently the plain Jane version lol. But, it's interesting to think about the fact that none of these colors were seen on the late 40's- 50's picklocks, and these terms really didn't start being used until the 21st century. I'd be very leery if a seller would be selling a 1950's picklock and calling the scales "French Tip" and all these terms used today. Back then, we saw lots of black horn and black and white horn, but not so much of all these colors used, and certainly not these terms. I have to wonder, what changed, what evolved? Maybe even through the "transitional period", and 1960's- 70's, did we see all these colors and transparencies? I wouldn't think the cow's environment or diets changed all that much, but apparently something did.

[whippersnapper]

Sold years ago as "Honey horn", apparently the plain Jane version lol. But, it's interesting to think about the fact that none of these colors were seen on the late 40's- 50's picklocks, and these terms really didn't start being used until the 21st century. I'd be very leery if a seller would be selling a 1950's picklock and calling the scales "French Tip" and all these terms used today. Back then, we saw lots of black horn and black and white horn, but not so much of all these colors used, and certainly not these terms. I have to wonder, what changed, what evolved? Maybe even through the "transitional period", and 1960's- 70's, did we see all these colors and transparencies? I wouldn't think the cow's environment or diets changed all that much, but apparently something did.

Yep, this ^^^^^ is what was mostly considered "honey horn" when I first started collecting.

[jim d,]

It was referred to as honey horn when I started collecting (2000) as well. Looks like a nice example, Chris.

Jim

[sammy the blade]

Very nice example, from the pictures It doesn't like you can see through it. Had an old fashioned once and you could see the liners and pins through horn in spots, just wasn't appealing to me so I sold it. Guy who bought it really thought it looked cool that way and it was a nice knife but wasn't to appealing to my eyes.

[boots]

Very nice example, from the pictures It doesn't like you can see through it. Had an old fashioned once and you could see the liners and pins through horn in spots, just wasn't appealing to me so I sold it. Guy who bought it really thought it looked cool that way and it was a nice knife but wasn't to appealing to my eyes.

You need to factor age into the equation, what was once translucent may not be after 50 years.

[boots]

Latama has a plethora of French Tips for sell right now.

https://latama.net/

[boots]

French Tip is my favorite.

Sweet!

[Tom19176]

WOW there are a lot of the 9" ones listed and prices have gone up!