Polished horn opinions?

[Corvus]

A friend has some pretty sweet looking WB horns, but they are polished. They seem to still have enough thickness if I processed into slats. Think they could be used for hornbow bellies? 2 pairs at 24" and they would just make such a beautiful bow, semi translucent white/tan with patches of black. Just not sure how well they would work since polished up before processing, never tried something with polished horn

[Corvus]

More food for thought as I plan out a few things lol

Doing a modified tatar is sorta what I am looking at what I want to work on for those 2 bows if those horns are useable.

So wondering if anyone could enlighten me on advantages or disadvantages of how some tatar bows had the sinew more built up at the sides of the back.

Like so:

[Hamish]

 I assume we are talking about complete horns with just the outside polished. If so you are going to have to saw them into slats, smooth and straighten them, and groove the inside surfaces. Doesn't matter if they are raw or polished.

[Corvus]

I assume we are talking about complete horns with just the outside polished. If so you are going to have to saw them into slats, smooth and straighten them, and groove the inside surfaces. Doesn't matter if they are raw or polished.

Yes full horns, why I said polished before processing as still need to do all of that. Was just not sure if the polishing effected the integrity of the horn

[Aaron H]

When horn is polished it is first sanded smooth, without any regard for wall thickness.  So in my opinion, you are taking your chances.  You might cut into it and find out that there is plenty of material to work with, you might also find that you have thin spots to work around or worse.

But, if they are a pretty as you describe, they may still be worth taking the risk, at the worst you'll have some nice pieces for smaller projects.

[Corvus]

When horn is polished it is first sanded smooth, without any regard for wall thickness.  So in my opinion, you are taking your chances.  You might cut into it and find out that there is plenty of material to work with, you might also find that you have thin spots to work around or worse.

But, if they are a pretty as you describe, they may still be worth taking the risk, at the worst you'll have some nice pieces for smaller projects.

This is Kinda what I was worrying about. They seem thick enough, but won't really know until processed. Would make nice inlay pieces at the worst, but really hoping they are useable for belly