Scrimshawing?

[vthompson]

I have a powder horn and I would like to scrimshaw a design onto it. What do I use to do the cutting with? All advise would be appreciated.

 

[Many Klatch]

I don't scrimshaw but I was talking to some people that do. They get their tools from their dentist. Use the worn out tools that dentists discard. They are good steel and can be sharpened.

Many Klatch

 

[Billnpatti]

I have tried scrimshawing but I am not an artist so my work is pretty crappy and I just gave up. However, I can tell you what I used and what a friend, who is very good at scrimshaw, told me to use. First I drew the design on with a pencil. When I had it like I wanted it, I sprayed the horn with hair spray to protect the pencil lines. I placed the horn snuggly on a sand bag and then I used the smallest blade you can get for an Exacto knife to cut the pencil lines into the horn. I then used a paste made of gun powder and water and rubbed it into the cut lines. Some folks like to use India ink but it is a bit more messy than using the gunpowder paste. When you are through, just wipe off the surface so that it is nice and clean, dry it and then apply some paste wax, bees wax or paraffin to the surface to protect it. It works great if you are an artist. Me? Not so much so.

 

[musketman]

I have a powder horn and I would like to scrimshaw a design onto it. What do I use to do the cutting with? All advise would be appreciated.

A heavy sewing needle (for quilts) or an awl will work for the finer details.

 

[dlpowell]

Use an Exacto knife with a thick handle and a thick blade that can be resharpened. Wrap some tape around the handle for a finger cushion.Take short repetative strokes.

Horns have soft spots and hard spots. You'll skate across those hard spots if your not careful.

 

[soggy]

This is what I use and it seems to work well for me. I picked it up a few years ago (can't for the life of me remember the company) On rare ocassions I do use an X-acto knife with a #11 blade for very fine lines (shading etc.)

 

[vthompson]

Thanks for all of your ideas and advise guy's, I really do appreciate it.

 

[dbiggers]

Funny, i had a guy ask me what i used to scrim my horn with. So instead of telling him, i showed him. Although i did forget to put my carving gouges in the picture, these are the tools i used the most.


"Hope this helps"

 

[AeroncaTAL]

I use both a small xacto blade and a carbide scribe. The blade cuts a fine line and the scribe can go around small curves easier. I started with the xacto blade and that taught me how to cut. You can do fine detailed work with just a blade...
Scott

 

[tnlonghunter]

All advise would be appreciated.

Since you asked for all advice, I'll tell you what I used on the one and only horn I have made. I started by drawing everything with a pencil, like people have said. Then I used an exacto knife to cut the lines in to the first part of the design.

However, I deviated from the way most people do it. I found that the cuts were simply not as wide as I'd like. Also, I'm pretty impatient. So I used a . . . Dremmel tool :redface:

I know, I know. But I've done this with lots of different things before and was pretty certain I could make it work on the horn. I held the Dremmel like a pencil and used a pointy abrasive bit. It took me about 1 hour to cut all the lines.

The next wrong thing I did was to use a standard ball point ink pen. I also tried the gunpowder paste thing, but it didn't work well for me. I ended up just tracing over the lines with the pen, blacking them in that way.

I know this certainly isn't the traditional method, but then by following Scott and Cathy Sibley's suggestions, I used a belt sander, power drill, and other non-traditional tools. Also, even though I'm extremely happy with how my horn turned out, I didn't really enjoy making it all that much and probably won't make too many more - at least not with all the carving and scrimshaw. Maybe a banded southern horn will be more fun to make. Here's the link to the horn I made and you can see how it turned out.

Click Here

 

[omarick1948]

For a one time or two project. Just get yourself an Exacto knife and some No. 11 blades for it. The knife like Soggy shows you can be had from Track of the Wolf company. I use several different homemade scibers with carbide tips, but everybody has their own methods. Good Luck!