Cleaning up horns?

[Travis Gregory]

I recently aquired some very fresh cow horns that I hope to someday make into powder horns. What is the best way to clean out the core of the horn and get them ready to start working on?

 

[boar]

I boil them in a cast iron pot till soft,run a fillet knife around the bone core, screw in a large screw hook and pull out. Not hard to do. Dilly

 

[ohio ramrod]

I clean them out by packing the whole horn in salt , let set two weeks and the cores usually will pull out easily.

 

[BrownBear]

I clean them out by packing the whole horn in salt , let set two weeks and the cores usually will pull out easily.

I've got a pair of large buffalo horns sitting in the freezer right now waiting to be cored. I've been putting off that chore because they were allowed to get pretty "high" before they came to me. I wasn't looking forward to boiling them, even outside. I live in serious Kodiak bear country, and that "perfume" wafting through the trees doesn't feel right.

I'll try the salting. Sounds great to me.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Putting them in your freezer will also loosen the cores, because moisture will be drawn out of the cores by the process of freezing. Using salt generates less odor than boiling, to be sure! :shake: :shocked2: :wink:

 

[flint64]

What process do you use to smooth them down? A scraper or ??

 

[ladysmithtrading]

I clean them out by packing the whole horn in salt , let set two weeks and the cores usually will pull out easily.

I've got a pair of large buffalo horns sitting in the freezer right now waiting to be cored. I've been putting off that chore because they were allowed to get pretty "high" before they came to me. I wasn't looking forward to boiling them, even outside. I live in serious Kodiak bear country, and that "perfume" wafting through the trees doesn't feel right.

I'll try the salting. Sounds great to me.

AWWW come on Bear, wheres your spirit of adventure???????? :rotf:

 

[omarick1948]

What process do you use to smooth them down? A scraper or ??

Use the SEARCH ENGINE on this site! This has been a topic on several threads.

That said, Scrape if you want, but easier to rasp, file, sand and polish with #0000 steel wool!

Rick

 

[BrownBear]

What process do you use to smooth them down? A scraper or ??

It depends a lot on the horn. The polished commercial horns you buy from most sources can be worked with about anything you want. I get a number of "found" horns from carcasses in the desert each year. It's easiest for me to get the scale and roughness off if I scrape first. Depending on what I find underneath the mess, I'll either continue scraping or switch to a rasp if I want to move lots of horn.

On those rough field horns, scraping takes the surface off quick so you can decide whether the horn deserves any more effort. Lots of silk purses hiding under the "sow's ear" appearance of rough field horns, but some of them are trash no matter what you do. Nice to know the difference right away, and a big scraper is great for the job.

 

[flint64]

Hey guys thanks.

The ones that I have have had the core removed but nothing else has been done to them.

 

[BrownBear]

Hey guys thanks.

The ones that I have have had the core removed but nothing else has been done to them.

I'd give them a quick scraping just to give you a better look at what lies beneath. Watch for round "pale" spots that might indicated delams, places where the horn got banged hard and the inner layers are separating.

For scraping I just use my pocket knife or a small butcher knife held with the edge 90 degrees to the horn. I always scrape from the base toward the tip, but that's habit rather than expertise.

 

[flint64]

I did find a couple of good websites about making powder horns. Is is okay to post hyperlinks here?

 

[omarick1948]

BrownBear,....Just wondering? What desert is in Alaska?

Rick :idunno:

 

[RickD]

If I remember right parts of Alaska are what they call a Arctic desert.

 

[BrownBear]

BrownBear,....Just wondering? What desert is in Alaska?

Rick :idunno:

:rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf:

It's all "desert" in the winter! :wink:

We've got a place in the Southwest near where I grew up, and I spend about 5 months a year down there, basically get an early dose of spring before the Alaskan spring, then stretch my fall down there when we run out of Alaskan fall.