Powder Horn flaking

[Jppard]

I just noticed on the end of one of my powder horns that its start to flake off. What do you recommend to put on the horn.



jppard

 

[bud in pa]

Try bees wax.

 

[BrownBear]

...end of one of my powder horns that its start to flake off.

That's real common in horns found in the hills, but not an issue (at least for a while) in a fresh horn. Just scrape down well past the flakes and proceed with a build. Of course you can't do that with one already built. The good news is that I've never had it happen again in flaked horns used for builds, but I always give them a dose of beeswax now and then as recommended by bud. You'll still get some flaking in the horn you have I bet even with the beeswax, unless you do a little careful scraping to get down past the flakes.

BTW- This slender steer horn was a field find, scraped clean of all flaking and built out of sentiment. Raunchy old steer knew exactly when the slaughter truck was coming with his name on it and would jump fences and light off into the hills for a few weeks. After a couple of years of that it got to be so funny we got attached to him and never tried again. He'd watch the truck come for another steer and just stand there chewing his cud. Got so big and old too, there was no sense butchering him for tough hamburger. He disappeared one night, never to return. Found him a couple of years later where he fell into a little draw and couldn't get out, so I had to make a horn from the flaked and weathered horn in his memory. That was over 20 years ago, and I still haven't seen another flake.

 

[Jppard]

Thanks, will do.

 

[S.Kenton]

Depending on if it’s peeling back, or actually flaking, I’ve used epoxy to either build it back up or stick the part that’s peeling back against the existing part of the horn.