First attempt at customizing a powder horn

[duelist1954]

I decided to take one of my plain powder horns and gussy it up a bit. I have never tried any horn work or scrimshaw before, and it shows.

If you learn from your mistakes, I did a lot of learning during this project.

Here's what the horn originally looked like:



And here is the final product:






I documented the entire learning process in a couple of videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qobJSfNuinU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QUQwb0x-NQ

 

[pab1]

Looks like you're off to a good start! :thumbsup:

 

[omarick1948]

Horning is an on going craft skill and it seems that you have many of the basic's covered in this video.

Concerned about over runs is a modern man's thinking, as 99% of all originals have some form of over run in one form or another. One little trick for you to try, the next time that you try using a carving gouge, is to cut your step line (on body) and THEN cut your engrailing chips BEFORE filing down the throat area. The uncarved front of the horn material will help as a stop for your gouge cutting edge.

Thanks for the tutorial video,

Rick

 

[Mickc01]

Wow!! What a difference. I'm impressed. Nice job! Very much enjoyed the videos too. :hatsoff: :hatsoff:

 

[S.Kenton]

I always like to watch your videos Mike! My first horn was a PITA as well! Watching your videos brought back some, not-so fond memories, (as well as a couple of chuckles...no disrespect intended). I thank you very much for posting your video on Youtube, your for sure doing your part in getting the word out! Good Job and keep em coming! :hatsoff:

 

[Shooey]

Mike, good job on that horn. I love the way you just dive in and do your best. I am too intimidated to try something like that.

Did you take the picture at .33 at Ft Fred this year? If so,I see the horn I bought on the table! Thanks for the post, I always enjoy your videos.

 

[duelist1954]

Yes I did Shooey. Which horn is yours?

 

[Shooey]

It's the second one in from the left. That's John Proud's table isn't it? It is plain with a round plug.

 

[Bob J]

Very nice indeed! From boring "plain-jane" to a piece of art :thumbsup:

 

[Thunder Bay]

It looks pretty darn nice to me. There were pretty few "professional" horn makers on the frontier. It looks like a man who spent the winter working on decorating HIS horn. It's great!