DEVELOPMENT OF MATERIALS OF BEKKO WORK US ING HORN

The technical art ''Bekko'' is one of the traditional technologies in Japan, and the materials of ''Bekko'' are shells of hawksbills. Howeve r, the industry of ''Bekko Work'' has been facing a crisis recently, b ecause the import of turtleshell is restricted. We have therefore trie d to develop new materials as substitutes for the turtleshell by utili zation of horn. The noteworthy aspects in this study are as follows: a ) It has been clearly established that the horn could be reformed with amber color similar to that of turtleshell by chemical treatment usin g hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). b) It is also of interest that we produced new materials like ''Bekko'' by mixing horn powder and turtleshell po wder at the appropriate ratio and molding them in the temperature rang e of 110-120 degrees C.