horn in the rough

[armymedic.2]

i have a really neat texas long horn horn i am working on. i decided i want to leave it rough on the outside because it looks very rustic, and i already have one that i scrimmed. do i need to put a finish on it to keep it from peeling up where it is rough? will it fall apart over time? never done it before and would really appreciate your replies. i already boiled and pulled the center out, and cut the spout hole and drilled it. so far so good. thanks for your help

 

[soggy]

Not just sure how rough you want it, but if it's too rough it will tend to catch on everything, and in time it will smoothen out itself from use;
Here's a photo of three old horns that were found in a house up a few years ago. They are far from the fancy ones that we all try to build, but I think you will agree they are rustic :grin: . It doesn't look the the original owners tried to smooth them up very much, he did however decorate them with some primitive scrimshaw (Jack knife scrachin' and dirt )

 

[armymedic.2]

oh wow, those are really neat. good finds. mine are definitely rougher than that, and i imaginbe they will wear smooth a bit. what i was worried about was like what happens to turtle shells if ya don't seal them with a finish. i had many snapper shells go bad before i figured out you needed to put a finish on them. not the same with cow horns then eh? i should know this since im a farmer, but we only raise black angus, and they don't wear the pointy things. i got these from my butcher.

 

Maybe thats his version of the liberty tree. Nice finds.

B

 

[ricktwin]

do i need to put a finish on it to keep it from peeling up where it is rough? will it fall apart over time? never done it before and would really appreciate your replies. thanks for your help

armymedic,

I have two I left rough that I made thirty years ago and you can't tell they've aged at all. I do apply a light coat of mineral oil to them occasionally (when I remember). I don't carry them anymore, but the wear they got on a few treks didn't hurt them any. The horns aren't like a snapper shell, in that the horn is fibrous, like your finger nails. The snapper shell has a thin membrane over the shell, like a skin, that dries and peels off. I put a thin coat of mineral oil on all my horns once, maybe twice a year to keep them from drying out.I think your horns would be fine with a minimum of care.

Ron

 

[Keppy]

Not just sure how rough you want it, but if it's too rough it will tend to catch on everything, and in time it will smoothen out itself from use;
Here's a photo of three old horns that were found in a house up a few years ago. They are far from the fancy ones that we all try to build, but I think you will agree they are rustic :grin: . It doesn't look the the original owners tried to smooth them up very much, he did however decorate them with some primitive scrimshaw (Jack knife scrachin' and dirt )

I'm doing my first horn and I like the looks of those. I feel I could use those without worrying about scrachin them up. But hope mine will be a little smoother.

 

[omarick1948]

Armymedic,

I think that it is safe to say, that many of the old original powder horns made by the "Common" man
of the early years of this country who made their own powder horns generally didn't worry about having a extra fine or satin smooth finish
on their horn...this was an everyday tool!

Today, we all like to focus on the best examples and sometimes forget or ignore the "Really How It Was" aspects of early American objects of daily life!

I salute you for your horn project!...I do think that you might consider scraping your horn a little anyway, to knock off any really rough or flaky material, as well as, applying a light oil or other sealer to curtail future insect damage.

Rick

 

[Elnathan]

My family has a little day horn, maybe 6 inches long, that is VERY roughly made. However, it was rasped to shape, and scraped smooth afterwards - You can see the rasp marks underneath the thousands of tiny facets left from the pocketknife or whatever was used to scrape it. The scraper also left a ripply surface, you can still see knifemarks where the tip was carved down, the shoulder isn't quite straight, a piece of paper was used to fill a gap between the plug and horn, etc. Very plain and simple horn, but someone cared enough to rasp it down a bit.

Point being that a horn left entirely in the rough is extremely unlikely, in my opinion. I can't recall ever seeing one (and, no, the argument that they were just all used up is not valid. Lots of rough and ready horns out there...) Scraping a horn is not too difficult, and is a good sit-around-the-fire-in-the-evening task. After all, a powder horn already requires a fair amount of work in drillling the spout, making and fitting the plug, etc., to make functional and benefits from being thinned (every raw horn I have seen is too thick in one spot or another). An untouched horn might sound nice in theory, but I think it will be more historically correct and you will be happier with it in the long run if you rasp it down and scrape it a bit as outlined above.