Horn question

[Pork Chop]

I have seen all sorts of creative plugs for horns, but a thought came to mind. The tip of the horn is cut off to make it square, then a hole drilled. Why couldn't the cut off piece be shaped into the stopper? :hmm:

 

[Elnathan]

It would have to be a fairly large tip, I would think, particularly if you wanted an extra bit to hold onto while working on it. It might work. The only problem I can think of off-hand is that the stopper and the horn are of equal hardness, which might make getting a good fit problematic. If horn changes dimensions like wood (I am not sure it does), you might also end up with a split tip.

Give it a try, and report back!

 

[Billnpatti]

An interesting thought but I have never tried it. I always use fiddle pegs. They are cheap, readily available, they work well and look nice so I have never strayed from what has worked well for me. If you get a horn that will give you a large enough tip to make a plug from and don't mind spending the time to get a proper fit, I'd say go for it and let us know what happens. I can think of no good reason why it wouldn't work.

 

[hawkthrower]

Hey guys, not wanting to sound like a know-it-all but I have 4 horns right now that I have built with horn plugs. You do need a fairly long tip but the end result is usually very nice and isn't affected by moisture like wood. Just takes a little more time to get a really nice fit and it works out great.
Ron

 

[Pork Chop]

Thanks! Glad to hear that my half baked idea actually got fully done!

 

[omarick1948]

One thing to think about in using the horn tip is the possibility of splitting the spout opening. I think that is why they (horn stoppers) were rarely used, except maybe for very ornamental presentation type horns. Most of the serviving stoppers, and they are far and few between are made of soft woods, such as pine etc. The real secret for a tight seal at the stopper is putting a slight taper on the stopper and spout hole.

Rick

 

[jethro224]

One could always drill into the tip then glue a section of wood dowel into the hole to be used as the actual stopper. Just had a thought, never tried it. :hmm:

 

[MSW]

interesting question. most of the horns i've seen use violin peg stoppers, or have a hand carved (whittled?) stopper made out of pine or some sort of soft wood. don't know if there's a technical reason for the softwood, or that it was handy and easy to carve.

saw a picture of a threaded horn tip where the stopper had the female threads and the horn had the male threads, but i don't know how this would hold up under years of use.

i use ebony violin pegs coated with beeswax, and i make sure to turn them or pull them out of the horn every so often so that the expansion and contraction of the horn doesn't jam them in the holes.

i don't see why it wouldn't work, though. by the time i get to doing the stopper, the end of the horn has usually been subsumed into my eldest daughters leatherworking business and turned into buttons.

 

[ohio ramrod]

I have seen horn tips cut off hollowed out into a powder measure, and then drilled through with a wooden plug pined into the tip/measure. This gives a plug that also serves as a powder measure, and has the softer wood to "squease" into the horn. Measure and plug in one! :hmm:

 

[gus13]

yes your "half-baked" idea is a viable one. :blah:
But, it is time consuming and surprisingly difficult to get the proper size for a watertight plug. or at least it was for me. :idunno: I tried it a coupla times and never got it just right, so I went back to wood. if you have better luck with it I'd love to see your work!