powder horn thickness..................

[bob1961]

how do ya guys know how thick yer horn is before ya go and file flats and cord slots in so ya don't go into the powder chamber....will be ordering a pair of horns the first of the month :v ................bob

 

[RMillet]

Are you buying semi-finished horns, i.e., with the butt plug already in place or doing all of the work yourself. If there's no butt plug in place you can get a pretty good idea of how much you've got to work with just by looking down the horn before you plug it. It's a little trickier if it's already plugged. I look down the spout hole as I'm working using a strong light against the outside. Even so I've ruined a couple of horns by going too deep. I chalk them up to experience and buy another $2.50 raw horn and start over again.

 

[scott k]

The end of a horn is solid and stays thick a long way down. It somthing not to think or weary about.
Remember you have to drill the hole for the spout.
Lehigh...

 

[Harddog]

how do ya guys know how thick yer horn is before ya go and file flats and cord slots in so ya don't go into the powder chamber....will be ordering a pair of horns the first of the month :v ................bob

Bob,

If you are starting with a commercial horn that has already been polished they can be somewhat thinner than a raw unpolished horn, but you would work them both down to the same size anyway. When starting to make a powder horn you stick a long piece of coat hanger type wire down into the inside of the horn and then mark the outside of the horn where the horn cavity ends. Then you make a mark about an inch farther toward the tip end to indicate where you will cut the tip off. This leaves a good thick solid tip that can be worked down to a small diameter. The area just above, and toward the butt, from the solid tip, (the throat), will be fairly thick and can be worked down to a diameter that is appropriate in size to the solid spout diameter.

When you lay out your horn, only one third or a little less of the length of the horn will be used for the spout and throat of the finished horn. All of the spout and throat will be in the thickest part of the horn. THe upper two thirds of the horn will just be scraped so no worry there.

In all the horns I have made I have never broken through into the horn. If I were you I would worry more about drilling the spout hole. If you don't drill the spout hole straight with the solid spout area it is easy to break out through the side of the horn with your drill. That is why you only leave the solid part of the spout one inch long. You might be tempted to leave the spout end a lot longer, but don't do it unless the spout end is absolutely straight. Most horns have some amount of curve at the spout end and if you leave it to long then you will have trouble drilling straight through this area without breaking through the side of the horn.

Randy Hedden

 

[bob1961]

let me clear up my question guys sorry....i know bout the end and drilling the spout hole....what i was requesting was when i see some horns that have the first third of the horn stepped down from the butt end of the hoen and some times colored brown with scallops along the edge of the brown....it looke like there is a 1/8" at least of a step down....so how do ya know how deep ya can go in that spot since it's half way from eighter end of the horn....i'm not sure if i'm going polished or raw yet....i like the black and white of the polished horn i've seen so far but not sure if i buy a raw horn it will come out that black and white i like :v ..........bob

 

[paulvallandigham]

Bob: Many of those horns involve using two horns to make one! You are looking at a step created by using a smaller horn inside a larger one, and epoxied together. The horns tend to be longer, and are made that way so they can be decorated.

There are single horns made with the kind of step you mention, but the depth is much less, and the length of the step down is much shorter. You have to use long calipers to meaure the thickness of the horn for this purpose. You don't have to buy the calipers- which are expensive- as you can make them from two equal lengths of wood, and a couple of screws and a wing nut.

 

[Harddog]

Bob,

I think you are getting worried about something that you shouldn't. When I start a horn I lay it out as I described above and then the very next thing I do is take a hacksaw and cut in the lines of the spout and throat to a minimum of .o60"-.070" and then use scrapers and files to further take horn material down to size.

The black and white colors might work out naturally on your horn, but most likely you will have to dye the throat and spout area to get the colors you want. Powder horns have an archetecture just like rifles. You need to look at some powder horns from the time period you are wanting to replicate and then make your horn to match. The idea is to lay out and make the horn to the style and archecture of the time period you have chosen and then worry about the coloring later.

Once again, if you only use the one third of the horn closest to the tip for the throat and spout you should not have to worry about breaking through because that is the thickest part of the horn.

You can actually work the horn down fairly thin and it will still last forever. As you work the horn you should be able to tell when it is getting thin in one spot or another. Only on a solid black horn is it hard to tell when you are getting it to thin,

Randy Hedden