Bee's wax and horns

[Brad McCaffree]

Ok, so I'm piddling with a horn. It's gutted and smoothed out. I'm preparing to do some scribe work to it. So as I ponder what I'm going to scrimshaw on it, I bee's waxed my canteen.
OOPS, brain thought. If a horn had a weak spot or small holes, could it be filled with bee's wax?
If this has been forumed elsewhere, shoot me there please.
Brad

 

[colmoultrie]

I'd be tempted to try to fill with a mixture of horn dust and epoxy - stronger and a more permanent match. On my second horn, there was a thin spot, so I took a long swab on the inside and painted on some epoxy on the inside.

It seemed to add strength, while it preserved the appearance, but as I just said in another thread, I've only built three horns, which means there are others who are far more experienced than I.

 

[Brad McCaffree]

trust me, I'm no builder. Not even close. I was just thinkin... swish it around and let it seal. Then I wondered if the horn got to hot, would it melt, draw moisture, or make a big mess in the powder.
I'm over thinkin.
Brad

 

[ohio ramrod]

I always use bees wax when fitting my horn plugs. I heat the horn and the prefit plug (the plug has a slight taper) in an oven then remove the plug, run some beeswax around the plug, then insert the plug into the horn.The horn will conform to the plug and I have a moisture tight fit. After cooling, I put in wooden pins (round tooth picks) sand any proud horn to the plug. :idunno:

 

[Pete G]

I don't think beeswax would work very well inside of a horn. It gets really sticky in the heat of direct sun and would probably glop up the powder. I do use it to fill any possible cracks between the horn and base plug. It works well in that application.

 

[omarick1948]

Use a trail of bee's wax around the horn's base plug and squeeze it in. Don't need to coat the entire interior, just adds weight and a mess in hot weather.

Rick

 

[Cruzatte]

Good advice there, Rick. On my most recent two horns, I used round toothpicks to secure the butt plug into place, then applied bees' wax to seal the toothpick pins. I always have dry powder and never a worry.

 

[Black Hand]

I always use bees wax when fitting my horn plugs. I heat the horn and the prefit plug (the plug has a slight taper) in an oven then remove the plug, run some beeswax around the plug, then insert the plug into the horn.The horn will conform to the plug and I have a moisture tight fit. After cooling, I put in wooden pins (round tooth picks) sand any proud horn to the plug. :idunno:

X2 (or X3)
I use beeswax to seal the base, soak my plug to keep it from absorbing moisture and treat the outside of my horn. Since the horn is already waterproof, there is no need to seal the entire horn with beeswax, though I did use beeswax to seal the inside of a rum horn - I didn't need rum that tasted like burnt hair...

 

[nhmoose]

Agree there!! Although some rum it may smooth it a bit. :metoo: