Cheap Powder Horns?

[biliff]

I am looking at those powder horns seriously but, after this post, I am also looking at one in the classifieds.

Does anyone have experience with Rick Froehlich's horns? I am liking the one with the squirrel and might be able to that high.

Bought one of his flat horns a while back. Good horn for a strap or in the pocket/pouch.

 

[AZbpBurner]

Earlier this year I bought a rifle from a Forums member. He included an extensive array of bag, capper, powder measures, flask with a set of spigots, and a powder horn.

This was one of those CVA powder horns you can get from Amazon for $9.99 with free shipping, readily identifiable by the huge sow *** sticking outta the wooden plug.

I just wanted a plain and simple, but functional horn for this particular rifle, but just had to do some fixin' on this thing before it could be seen in public. I sawed off the big wooden *** and finished the profile of the plug. I got the brass bushing and plug end from Track of the Wolf and installed it on the reprofiled and refinished wooden plug, and added a rosewood fiddle peg for stopper. Some additional file, sandpaper and steel wool finishing remedied the crude work on the horn, and got rid of the excess shine. I'm still working on a suitable strap, and it no longer looks like a $10 made in India horn. Looks a lot better with the $13+ parts and some hand work.

If you want a quick and cheap functional horn without any fancy design, and don't mind doing a little hand work on it, this is the way to go.

You can always invest more time on work on a more impressive horn as a winter project, meanwhile putting this one to use.

 

[qtrhrs7]

Double ditto to what Claude said! I have one of Ricks horns and will not part with it.

Bud.

 

[TLanoy]

Thanks for posting that Bill! :thumbsup: I am really excited for mine to get here and it will be part of my Christmas.

 

[George]

One of my favorite original BP artifacts is a small horn which was obviously made by someone in the simplest way possible. Base plug whittled out with a knife, same for the butt of the horn, the spout with a simple shoulder to hold a strap, and base plug nailed in with square nails. And no foofaraw.

I have little doubt there were many more of this type originally than those fancy ones we all carry, today.











Spence

 

[Wes/Tex]

Thanks Spence, I love the simplicity of some of the old horns that we might now think of as 'utility'. We had a shop in an antique center some years ago and one of the older couples, whose store had "My Wife's Store" painted on the roof, would come back from trips across eastern American with one or two of those every year. Always amazed me how truly nice these old horns are or how Jim & Kathleen could find them! :wink:

 

[Stumpkiller]

I am looking at those powder horns seriously but, after this post, I am also looking at one in the classifieds.

Does anyone have experience with Rick Froehlich's horns? I am liking the one with the squirrel and might be able to that high.

Great guy and a skiller horner. My favorite is by him.

 

[Stumpkiller]

A couple originals I own (family heirlooms) - plain as mud. Wish I knew where the gun itself ended up (one is full of assorted shot - so I figure smoothbore). The bootlaces are reproductions. :haha:

 

[TLanoy]

Thanks Stumpkiller for sharing those! That one from Rick is a real nice one to have. I really like the looks of his work and can hardly wait for mine to get here. Sending off payment for it tomorrow.

 

[Wes/Tex]

Personally love the arrow in the stump...took me a second to 'snap' to that! :thumbsup:

 

[Stumpkiller]

That was a surprise to me, too. I've gone by "Stumpkiller" as a camp name since a long-ago bowhunting camp because I'd rather go roving than hunting. ;-)

It's also the old NFAA totem - National Field Archery Assoc. Another thing I used to love to do. I admit: I'm a muzzleloader with a traditional bowhunting/archery addiction.

I like making my own gear, but I get more pleasure out f this horn than anything I have done or could make myself. It's a treat.

 

[George T.]

I'm sure that there were hundreds of those plain horns for every fancy one. Mine ate all plain but if this cold spell lasts I might work on them a little.

Geo. T.

 

[Dphar]

When we start considering decorated horns we must consider the TIME FRAME. Most of this smaller horns likely date to later periods.
Decoration. Before 1800 the decoration of the mid 18th c was passe in Europe and with many in the US, like Thomas Jefferson. The relief carving that was almost standard on rifles of the 18th c was increasingly seen as vulgar and garish. So the rifles were increasingly plain and inlays, for some reason, took the place of carving. Powder horns became plainer too. Furniture as well, almost everything became almost painfully austere. 18th C horns for militia use generally held one pound of powder since this was REQUIRED, they also often carried the makers name incase they had to be turned in to be filled. So when one finds a little horn that is very plain its possible its from the 18th C but its more likely from the 19th and could be as late as 1900 since the ML was still in use in parts of the US at that time. Both for hunting and for turkey matches etc.
Many today who start talking of preferring plain arms and accessories do not understand the fashion that produced carving on firearms, powder horns and many other things at the time of the American Revolutionary War and for quite sometime prior. Even the 1780s English Trade Rifles imported by the British for their native allies were carved. Its what was expected. It was how they were supposed to be.

Dan

 

[matt denison]

Spence said:
One of my favorite original BP artifacts is a small horn which was obviously made by someone in the simplest way possible. Base plug whittled out with a knife, same for the butt of the horn, the spout with a simple shoulder to hold a strap, and base plug nailed in with square nails. And no foofaraw.I have little doubt there were many more of this type originally than those fancy ones we all carry, today.



A neighbor up the road who knows that I mess with this stuff brought in his muzzleloader and gear that he had inherited for me to look at and help him sort out. When he pulled an original horn out of the box and handed it to me he said, "I need to replace this". It looked nearly exactly like the one Spence posted here. I was agast and asked him why he wanted to replace such a fine piece. He said "it's ugly, I want a fancier one, here do you want this one?" I would have traded him any horn that I have for the "ugly" one but ethics held me back. I explained to him how valuable that horn was and he reluctantly put it back in his box.

 

[George]

Horns like the one I posted are most likely 19th-century, maybe pretty late. It can be confusing, though, because a fellow living in the outback might very well whittle out a utilitarian one like that at any time. Backwoodsmen don't have a reputation for wanting to keep up with the latest style trend. :grin:

Spence

 

[HardBall]

I like the less decorative horns myself.

 

[gunmaker43]

To bad that old horn can't talk to us....

 

[Wes/Tex]

I would have traded him any horn that I have for the "ugly" one but ethics held me back. I explained to him how valuable that horn was and he reluctantly put it back in his box.

Congrats, it's great to see someone with ethics and it's not "holding you back", it's karma going to come around so you can say, "I just stepped in something good!" :wink: :thumbsup:

 

[Old Creek]

you want be sorry WT, i dont have money to burn but after a go with a kit horn and a sorry excuse for scribing i really wanted a nice horn and since i have 2 grandsons i went out on a limb and bought 2 horns one from Rick and one from another horner, my reason for 2 was to have something nice to pass on to each grandson. long story short i had the same motif for each horner and Ricks is hands down the better of the two, on a scale of one to 10 Ricks is a 10 and the other a 6 and to top it off i paid considerable less for the one Rick made, should have got both from Rick, why i didnt is a long story i want bore you with it but Rick if you are curious let me know, i was to embarrased to mention it when we were corresponding.

creek.

 

[TLanoy]

I am excited to receive mine! Especially after seeing the new one he has listed on the classifieds now. :grin: