Horn Parts/Supplies

[Catof9tails]

I'm sure my up coming question has been asked before, but I'm gonna ask anyway. I'm new so please bear with me. I'm looking for nails and tacks for horn building. I'm looking for nails, small tacks and large tacks. But I'm looking for solid brass, nickel and copper. I don't want the plated stuff. I'm asking if someone has a good, reliable and honest supplier that they can recommend? Ya know, a company that will accommodate small orders. I hope I am not out of line with this question. I'm just having a problem finding solid metals for horn building. Heck, that's how I found this forum looking for materials. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks, Cat9

 

[Powderhorn]

Cat9: Small iron and solid brads can be obtained almost anywere. Rocklers, a woodworking catalog, have some small square (cut) nails that work well and look great. Solid brass tacks with iron shanks can be obtained from many of the black powder catalogs. The best I've heard about are solid cast brass tacks with square shanks which are very authentic. They are listed on the net by a man that makes wonderful, old trunks and chests. I cannot remember his web address; maybe someone out will know. These tacks come in various sizes and are expensive.
Hornman

 

I get them at ACE Hardwear.
They wern't on the shelf and i asked the store owner if he could get them for me and he looked them up in his book and had them for me in 3 days.
He could get solid brass and copper, Even had different style heads t choose from too. :results:

Woody

 

[Dave Poss]

alot of plugs are put into horns with wood pegs instead of nails. I use round toothpicks or shish kaboob stickson some of my horns.. You can get them at nearly any large grocery store. Also, an easy way to do nails is just to find the size you want and snip the head off them and file flat....both ways are cheap and easy to do.

 

[Stumpkiller]

If you have thornapple trees or locust nearby the thorns make fine and authentic pegs.

 

[bovey]

Cast brass tacks...

http://www.thetrunkshoppe.com/

 

[hornbuilder]

If you have thornapple trees or locust nearby the thorns make fine and authentic pegs.

no offence stumpkiller but do you mean hawthorn needles, and not locust :m2c:

 

[Stumpkiller]

Nope. Locust.

I've got two honey locust in the front yard and I've battled these bad boys enough with the riding mower to know a thorn when one rips my hat off.

 

[longshot47]

Cat9- I think ya got your 'brass tacks" answer, but if your inclined to wood pins which match your plug, try drillin some suitable size holes thru a steel plate [at least an eigth inch or more thick] and bevel one side of the hole. Shave you some hefty splinters off the desired wood [run em with the grain, a course], scrape em a little to a bit of a taper, and drive em, gently, thru the hole in the plate --bevel side down. Insert with a tech a glue, burnish the head and there ya are....Longshot

 

[Catof9tails]

Hmmmm, Silly me. I never thought about using thorns or wooden pins. But as far as the solid tacks and brads, they are scarce around here. Today I found solid brass thumbtacks at walmart so picked them up. Thumbtacks are kinda big and don't look as nice on a powder horn, but when you desperate, what can I say. As someone mentioned before, most of the copper tacks I have were bought at ACE Hardware.

I'm trying to expand on my horn build techniques. I've built five so far and not happy with any of them. They look nice, but I'm just trying to improve on the styles.

Thanks for all the feedback. It's much appreciated.

Cat9

"Drop that hammer and let'er smoke!"

 

[Flint50]

I found some 1/8" brass rod at Home Deopt in 3' lenghts, and made "nails" out of it for my last horn.

 

Cat of tailsX9

Check out this site on building powder horns it may help you out in whta you are trying to achieve.

http://www.nmroyalrangers.org/FCF/making_a_powder_horn.htm

Hope it helps
Woody

 

[Walker357]

Got a question. I've made 2 horns, neither one is very good at all, but when I boiled the end to shape it with the
plug it just glued the plug in. Both horns have the plug I tried to shape with filed down to shape because they wouldn't come out. I even used the vise and a pipe wrench and all that did was tear up wood. How do you get the plug out. :what:

 

[mowolf]

Try reboiling the horn. :results:

 

[Jimrogers]

Got a question. I've made 2 horns, neither one is very good at all, but when I boiled the end to shape it with the
plug it just glued the plug in. Both horns have the plug I tried to shape with filed down to shape because they wouldn't come out. I even used the vise and a pipe wrench and all that did was tear up wood. How do you get the plug out. :what:

Instead of shaping it with the plug, you use a form-a tapered round piece of wood made on a lathe. You pust the horn onto it and let it cool, then remove the horn (sometimes I hold the horn and knock the form, since I don't care how scarred it gets, to loosen the horn). I've made a couple sizes to accomodate different size openings. Ant friend with a lathe could make you one in about 3 minutes out of a piece of 4x4. I bought a round, fir, stair post and cut it up to make forms from.
I'm not sure what you are trying to do with the horn, but if you are using a bought butt plug and trying to match it up with a horn, that's difficult without making it yourself.

If you have excess plug showing, put it on a belt sander and sand it flush to the horn opening (I'm presuming you have tached the butt plug in). Then glue or epoxy an oversized (extending beyond the horn opening) piece to this piece (after sanding flat on the same belt sander). Once it is set up, simply sand or carve and sand off the excess and shape the butt to your liking. Add a steel staple or old screw and you're done after a little stain and linseed oil. This is how flat horns are (and were) plugged and made to have a perfectly fitting plug despite the variances in shape.
It's really easy to do. Good luck.

 

[thehorn]

Got a question... How do you get the plug out? :what:

Like mowolf suggests, try inserting the butt end in near boiling water to soften it; but before doing this, thread a wood screw half way into the wood butt. Then place butt end into the water. As horn becomes pliable, remove from water and using a plier to grip the screw, pull plug free from the horn.