Butt plug wood?

[torpedo]

This is my second horn, my first I used bass wood, is there a "better, best" wood for the plug?

 

[Stophel]

Bass wood is pretty dang soft. I wouldn't consider it great for anything, but I guess it would work. Old powder horns will have base plugs (much more pleasant than "butt plugs") of walnut, maple, cherry, etc. Many of them are simply pine. I have a 200 year old German horn with a base plug made of ash. Tulip poplar would work well, being not too terribly hard, easy to work, and still attractive (if you get a nicely colored piece of wood).

 

[Kansas Jake]

I wondered what the title of this thread was going to be about.

 

[Ames]

Any hardwood polishes up nice in the end. My preference is apple. You never know what figure you will find in it till you run it through the bandsaw.
White oak can throw some surprise twisted grain as well.

 

[torpedo]

Thanks to all. will be going with mahogany, as the bass wood is way too soft. The bass should work well for the pour spout plug.

 

[Tumbledown]

Any hardwood polishes up nice in the end.

Double entendre there?

 

[Nyckname]

Double entendre there?

Someone knows how to torment me.

 

[OldJoe212]

This is my second horn, my first I used bass wood, is there a "better, best" wood for the plug?

I've been using walnut on the last few that I've made. I have a 1" tap and die for wood, so I make a threaded stopper with some crap apple wood from an old tree of mine. Both turn nicely. BTW, I also have a 1/2" tap and die that I use on priming horns.

 

[Eutycus]

Truly surpised. I came upon a post saying that pine is sometimes used. I didn't think pine was used cause it's a "soft"wood. It ought to make the carving easier, I don't have a bandsaw.

 

[Ames]

This one was pine for the ease of carving.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Bass wood is pretty dang soft. I wouldn't consider it great for anything,

Bass wood can be hard especially when grown in the south. And, it hardens with age. Not the prettiest stuff but would be acceptable for the use intended. Actually, almost any wood will do fine. Matter of personal preference. Do yer own thang.

 

[Gun Tramp]

Beautiful work, Ames.

 

[Ames]

Out of focus, but thanks.

 

[45man]

Wonderful work! I like the scrimshaw. I don't think it matters which wood you use. A horn is a work of art after all.

 

[Artificer]

Truly surpised. I came upon a post saying that pine is sometimes used. I didn't think pine was used cause it's a "soft"wood. It ought to make the carving easier, I don't have a bandsaw.

Actually, pine was a very common wood used for this in the period, though they probably used "Heart" Pine or Pine that almost got to the lower end of the hardwood scale, because they used so much of it for other things and would have scraps of it left over quite commonly. This type of Pine had all but died out in the country until they set up a special preservation for it in Texas. I researched this a few years ago for the type of wood that would be the most correct for an 18th century Tool Box and other items.

Gus

 

[Kansas Jake]

We did a remodel job on a house built around 1900. We wanted to save the white pine trim. That stuff was hard as a rock after all the years.

 

[Artificer]

We did a remodel job on a house built around 1900. We wanted to save the white pine trim. That stuff was hard as a rock after all the years.

Jake,

The only reason I knew period "Heart" or "Hard" pine was as hard as it was during the period, was I studied the kind of wood that 18th century Tool Boxes were normally made from.

There is quite an industry using reclaimed floor boards and barn wood of the 18th and 19th century for modern flooring and other purposes. That's where I tried to get boards big enough for a reproduction 18th century Tool Box.

Gus

 

[jbwilliams3]

Jake,

The only reason I knew period "Heart" or "Hard" pine was as hard as it was during the period, was I studied the kind of wood that 18th century Tool Boxes were normally made from.

There is quite an industry using reclaimed floor boards and barn wood of the 18th and 19th century for modern flooring and other purposes. That's where I tried to get boards big enough for a reproduction 18th century Tool Box.

Gus

I spoke with one of the artisans at Colonial Williamsburg a few years ago and he showed me some of the reclaimed pine they use for framing. He had a piece of incredible dense pine which was reclaimed from an old house which had been partially burned down. Once they planed off the charred layer, they had some fantastic stuff to work with. I was in the process of building my house at the time and it really bummed me out how superior that pine was for framing compared with the stuff I had to use on my house!

 

[Nyckname]

Some incredible reclaimed wood comes from raising logs that've been submerged in lakes and rivers. The problem is finding them, first.