got my horn......................

[bob1961]

just got my horn in the mail and need some tips....i know i have to trim the big end but how much should i trim....trim it to just get past the rough spots at bout 2 1/2" mark or farther....

also what do ya think bout me makeing the plug fer it out of the tip i need to cut off, i'll have bout 3" of the tip after it's cut off to carve a plug with :v .............bob

 

[Halftail]

White Buffalo,
No tips here just a comment...Nice Horn!Where ya get it?Lookin forward to watchin your progress with it. :v

 

[bob1961]

moscow hide and fur in idaho :v ..........bob

 

[rich pierce]

First "de-bark" it using a drawknife or whatever your favorite tool is. Then you'll see how it is down where it looks rough now. Then just cut it so it's sound, not too thin on the thin side.

At the t'other end, I stick a wire in there and measure where the cavity ends and cut off 1" past that.

 

[blacksmithman64]

You want to get at least 1/8" wall thickness at the butt.I use a hoof rasp to rough off the scale and then a reg. rasp to clean it up a little to where I can get my thickness.Once you get that,hacksaw it off and flush it up on a disc or belt sander to get it even. Run a coat hanger or other stiff wire in to find out where the solid tip starts,take the wire out and mark about 1-2 inches past that on the outside.Thats where you should cut the tip off.Then drill the tip, I use a 1/4" and then a tapered carbide cone I stole at work to taper it slightly. A small rat tail file will work too. You want to taper the hole so the stopper doesn't seize up when it rains.Scott Sibley's got a good book out,I've been building exactly like that for 10 years.

 

[snagg]

White Buffalo:
Here's a link to a horn site that might give you some tips. I used a few ideas from this site and some from another horn site when I did my horn. Hope it helps you some. Nice lookin horn by the way. Good luck. [url] http://www.nmroyalrangers.org/FCF/making_a_powder_horn.htm[/url]

snagg

 

[bob1961]

snagg....i have that site saved too....thanks all fer the tips....would the cut off tip shaped to a taper work as a plug to match the tapered hole....i'm thinking it will as it would be horn againest horn material :v ..........bob

 

[Harddog]

snagg....i have that site saved too....thanks all fer the tips....would the cut off tip shaped to a taper work as a plug to match the tapered hole....i'm thinking it will as it would be horn againest horn material :v ..........bob

Bob,

Listen to what Rich Pierce and Stumblin Wolf have said. Measure the horn on the inside with a straight piece of coat hanger and then mark it on the outside of the horn. Then eyeball the tip of the horn and see how much length you can leave there by seeing if the tip is straight enough to drill it without breaking through the side of the horn.

You can always get 1' in length and as much as 1-1/2 " as SW said. I always try to leave as much solid horn at the tip end as possible. If the horn is rather straight at the tip you might be able to leave 2" or more of solid horn at the tip.

You could use the cut off tip for a spout plug, but in my opinion, using the cut off tip of the horn for the spout plug is the sure sign of the horn having been made by a modern day pilgrim. Original horns always seem to have wooden spout plugs. You can hand whittle one out of hard wood or purchase a violin tuning key from one of the muzzleloading suppliers. A piece of 1/2' hardwood dowel from the hardware store is a good source of wood for the spout plug.

Randy Hedden

 

[Top Jaw]

As some have said, work down the rough base scale area first before deciding how much to trim. I like to use as much of the horn as I can. You may be surprized as you work it down how much is useable beneath the scales. I have trimmed as little as a quarter inch to maybe a couple of inches at most. Each horn can be different. I sometimes use a belt sander first to knock the worst of it off, before proceeding with coarse files.

 

[bob1961]

i got out in the garage today as the temp got above 30 and did some work on my horn....cut bout 2" off the tip and bout 1 1/2" off the other end....filed and sanded it smooth to see what i got to work with :v ..............bob

BEFORE

AFTER

 

[ricktwin]

filed and sanded it smooth to see what i got to work with :v ..............bob

Are you planning on stepping down the throat? It looks like it might be a solid darker color than the body and would add some nice contrast, as well as a dividing line if you were going to do any scrimming on it. It looks like it'll be a nice horn. Keep the picts coming as you progress.

Ron

 

[bob1961]

got my butt plug ready to go in....i'm leaving it over hang the thickness of the horn so i can smooth them both even on the out side of the horn....

here my bench sander i rigged up to do sanding on projects :v .............bob

 

[blacksmithman64]

Git you about a 120 or 150 grit disc on there or you'll never get the scratches out!Neat set up by the way!

 

[bob1961]

yeah i know, this is to git the wood off in a hurry, i have the green and orange trim-cut disks also....i'm looking at one of them 4" x 40" belt and disk bench sanders fer bout a hundred bucks :v ...........bob

 

[snagg]

You made some good progress. Looking good. :hatsoff:
Above 30 you say. We're sposed to see above 30 this week early sometime. It's been a long cold snap here.
Good luck on the rest of your horn. That grinder set-up is pretty ingenious. :grin:

snagg

 

[windwalker_au]

i got two blowing horns at a junk shop,some one had tride to scrimshaw them so i kept the best one and used the outher for parts,as in plugs and end cap it came out prity good wish it did not have the scratching on it though.
bernie :thumbsup:

 

[soggy]

:thumbsup: Good morning (?) Windwalker;

If the "scratching" isn't too deep it can be sanded or filed off and then you could scrimshaw a design of your choice. If it is too deep then maybe you could sort of cover it up by incorporating the existing design into something more to your liking. Kinda like some folks do with tattoos that they got and then later had second thoughts (don't ask me how I know this :grin: )
Soggy

 

[blacksmithman64]

you can also scrape it off with a sharp knife IMHO its faster and leaves a better surface but you may get a few ripples or chatter marks that are easily enough taken care of.I leave tooling marks if they don't interfere with the scrimshaw,every original I have seen has tool marks.

 

[windwalker_au]

thanks guys but who ever scraped and polished the horn did not leave much to work with, and as for covering it with more scrimshore that would be good if i could do it never bin that good a art of any kind .wish my brouther was here he is a great artist,but he lives in englandand dont no any one here who can do scrimshore.its still a good horn it is 14 inches round the botom curve.
bernie :thumbsup:

 

[blacksmithman64]

Truth be told, you don't have to be an artist to do some good scrimshaw.I freehand my stuff, but you can use tracing and carbon paper.Best thing is to study some originals,and since yer down under,ye might try surfin the web for "original powder horns".Main thing is that scrim back then was a lot different than what a lot of folks are doing today,and you want to try to mimic the old way and you can only do that by studyin the real deal.