well the horns I talked about in my prevoius post are here there are six of them like he said and most of them are mostly white they are raw horns the one I like the best would work best for a right carry and I wear them on the left but o well, they all have some thin spots in them when you hold them up to the light you can see light through them how mutch of a problem is this? I have two horns now but need three more and I have only made one myself so I am asking for advise, I ran a wire up in the horn I would like to use amd there is only about three quarters of an inch solid horn at the end, no room for creative carving at the spout it is big enough that it would hold about a pound and a half of powder, I dont care for the look of a wood spout on the end of a horn so I will just turn it into a plain horn before I add a wood spout time to hop into the shower so Ill ask more later Thanks
horns are here
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AeroncaTAL
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You should have plenty of meat for carving. When I took a horn class recently, we were cutting the end off only about 1/2 to 1 inch from where it went solid. The horn is pretty thick there. As to your question if the horn is too thin, our instructor pointed out that most first time horn makers make the mistake of not taking enough of the horn off. I examined some beautiful horns on display and they were feather light. The horn is pretty tough material. The one I made in class is probably 1/8 inch or a tad less at the thinnest at the neck, and I could still take a little more off. I think you'll be ok, and good luck.
Scott
Scott
on a couple of horns, I've worked them down thin enough to have the powder they contain block the light, so I can see how much powder the horn contains. I don't try for this transparency the whole length of the horn, just an inch or so at the butt (plug) end...Hank
50cal.cliff
58 Cal.
Just read your post. If you are interested in a different spout for you horn, you might want to check out the one I put on my horn. Go to photo's, page 4, and look for a post under my handle,"First Horn/Deal or no Deal"! this was my idea to the wooden plug alternative. I have never seen one before like this. Started plyaing around with the same thought as you had. Not that I really dislked the wood plug, but wanted something different. Any way maybe it will give you an idea. Good Luck and enjoy!
I've worked on a number of horns that you could see the light through the wall of the horn.
Don't carve the horn when the wall is too thin, it is heart breaking when you have finished a horn, and then you carve through the side of that horn...
Don't carve the horn when the wall is too thin, it is heart breaking when you have finished a horn, and then you carve through the side of that horn...
AeroncaTAL
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I learned a neat trick when I was taking a horn making class. Take a small flashlight like a mag light, tie on a coat hanger as a handle and put it down the horn. With a pair of magnifying glasses and the light shining through, you can count the layers and see how much of the horn is left while carving. Should help keep you from going too thin.
Scott
Scott
Todd Rickard
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Most of the nice, plain, original horns I've seen are so thin a light will shine through them easily, showing the remaining powder at a glance. Modern powderhorns tend to be much thicker.
I think I will go with a tapered wood plug I started thining down and smoothing the rough outer surface of two of them they are looking like they will work out just fine, then I got the idea in my head that one of my TC hawkins just had to have the stock refinished so I can't make anymore dust in the shop for a while I need to finish one project before starting any more but I just can't seem to remember that.
