Cleanin' out horns

Need some advice on how to clean out a horn. I'd like to get rid of that brown layer inside the horn. One, to make it thinner and two, make it lighter. Any ideas on how to do this? I've got this longhorn that is a green and white and would look pretty decent as a powder horn, but it's just to thick and heavy the way it is.

tuffy

 

[musketman]

I hear tell that you can boil the horn in water to make it soft, then scrape it to the desired thickness.

When the horn gets too hard to work, return it to the boiling water and reheat it.

One note of caution, you can also change the bend and shape too, (flat horns, ect.) you may not want this to happen, so look out for it.

I would advise scraping from the tip, working towards the base in small strips.

 

[2172]

I've been working with some of the big and rough South African horns from October Country. I've used a drum sander in my drill press to sand inside the horn....it thins down the thick butt end very well. I've boiled horns, mostly to soften 'em to accept a butt plug. They do come out a bunch cleaner inside, as well...I don't know if boiling will take out all of that brown layer, but it would be as start...Hank

 

[Stumpkiller]

Boil the horn and then use a cabinet file (a mild rasp) to smooth up the inside and remove the brown stained areas. It's going to get darkened up again with the powder, anyway. Why worry about the inside? The traditional method is to carve the neck down to the darker layers and leave the main body lighter. Some were scraped down to be semi-translucent so you could see how much powder you had by holding it up to the sun. I never had the nerve to get it that thin.

I use pieces of broken glass to scrape the outside of the horn. You can get it nearly finished smooth with glass (watch your piddies).

 

Thanks to all who contributed. I now have the inside cleaned out fairly well, and the horn is much thinner and lighter, which was my main objective. Gettin' ready to stain the throat tomarrow, set'er a few days and put a little tung oil on'er. Then maybe I'll try my hand at scrimshaw. Got to keep busy during the winter months. Besides, beadwork is gettin' tiresome. Thanks again.

tuffy