First Horn - Have Questions

[GregC]

Hi All,

I made my first horn this weekend - a small priming horn. It turned out really well, actually better than I had hoped! :grin:

I have one question though..how do you stain the end of the horn so they appear black or very dark?

I tired using some very dark stain (minwax) and some very dark Alcohol based stain. Neither seemed to really soak in and did not do much to change the color.

I'll post pics tomorrow.

Thanks

Greg

 

You might try black leather dye.

 

[krecords]

Black and or dark brown Rit dye. I find it in Walmart with the laundry stuff. I heat the water up in a coffee can using about 1/4 of the liquid dye that came in the plastic bottle. I learned this from others here on this forum.
Kirby

 

[AeroncaTAL]

I use RIT dye, dark brown with a bit of black. Or use just black, whatever your preference. This works best with a horn with an engrailed edge. I heat the dye in an asparagus cooker till it just starts to boil, then reduce the heat and put the horn in. I leave it in 30 - 45 minutes, depends on how much dye you mixed in. You will probably have to sand/scrape the dye off of the body when you take it out. Some horners will wrap vinyl tape around the end of the body to keep the dye off. In any case you will probably have to scrape some dye off. I usually dye the neck first, before I scrimshaw the horn. I then will dye the entire horn (including the neck) with tan RIT then buff with beeswax. Post some pics, love to see what you've done.
Scott

 

[ladysmithtrading]

Hair dye works very well also and comes in a rainbow of colors, mix a small amount, brush on to the throat and saturate well, let sit overnite and rinse.

 

[dlpowell]

Rit dye, dark brown liquid. Full bottle in 2/3rds a large coffe can of water. Bring to boil. Turn off and insert horn. Leave in 5 to 15 minutes. Let dry overnight and lightly rub it down with 0000 steel wool to get to the desired color. Take a sharp knife or box knife blade and scrape the excess dye from the white body of your horn. Be sure to hold the horn tightly where the neck meets the body so you don't over scrape and get into the brown on the neck.

 

[blacksmithman64]

Looks like all the other fellers covered all the secrets! :haha: But DO wrap some electrical tape or at least duct tape around the engrailing and up the horn body.It will make your life easier by not having to scrape so much! :thumbsup:
41aero does the same as me...dye the spout first; then the body or you'll have a mess on your hands. The yellow/gold or tan or whatever color you dye the body with won't show on the dark tip.