What kind of wax for my horn

[woodse guy]

I got a couple of kit horns from powerhornsandmore.com. It says the I can use a buffing wheel to finish or use a hard paste wax to finish. What kind of wax do I want to use for this?

 

[Flint311]

I have access to beeswax and paraffin. I like beeswax to melt into something like this. It buffs up real nice by hand with a rag.

Instructions today (ie: "paste wax") is taking into account what people have access to.

Good luck on the projects and be sure to post pics! :thumbsup:

 

[necchi]

A Good auto or furniture Paste wax with Carnauba was recomended to me.

 

[rmonday2]

Carnauba wax is the hardest and probably the most durable wax. Wood turners use it to finish bowls and plates. It has to be applied to the part then liquefied with a felt or cotton buffing wheel.
It is available in blocks from Woodcrafters.com
but it is a little price"e, however it will last ya a very long time.

Hope this helps.

 

[wattlebuster]

I've had good luck with plain ole johnsons paste wax in the yellow can :thumbsup:

 

[omarick1948]

I'll give Johnson's Paste Wax two thumbs up :thumbsup: :thumbsup: and have been using it on all my horns for years. Remember, it's very hard and used on wood floors also! ___ Put a light coat on your horn. Let it set for thirty minutes or so and then vigorously hand buff it off the horn with a soft cotton rag. I like old cotton T shirt material or cotton flannel!

Rick

 

[Hawkeye]

A gentleman from the HCH recomended Howard's Feed-N-Wax to me. It is a mixture of beeswas and orange oil. www.howardproducts.com

 

[woodse guy]

I have a problem with the horn that I just put together. I can blow air out of it. If air can get out so can powder? Nails have already been put in how can I seal this? I was thinking maybe a little epoxy.

 

[Macon Due]

sir
How bout melting a little bees wax into the leak seam? I have the same problem and plan to try that...
Macon

 

[NJ Longbeard]

I have rolled beads of bees wax , dropped them in the horn and heated with a hair dryer and it worked like a charm, also you can smear it in the outside seam of the butt plug and heat with air dryer also works great! Ed

 

[woodse guy]

I was also thinking about that but didn't know how long it would last.

 

[tblack]

I melt the bees wax and pour it in around the butt.

 

[paulvallandigham]

put the beeswax in the horn. Then heat the horn up with any source, until the wax melts. Then, tie a cord around the mouth of the horn and swing the horn in a circle like a ferris wheel, to use centrifugal force to move the wax where it needs to go, quickly( before it cools). Using a heat gun(paint removal) or a hot hair dryer, on the outside allows you to reheat the wax repeatedly as needed until you plug all the holes.

With the horn being used for Powder- rather than beer, or water, or hard liquor, the wax should serve a long time as a plug. You can always pour out the powder, rinse the horn, dry it, and repeat the process.

If you find you are dealing with too large a gap for the wax to plug, consider using epoxy from the outside of the horn to seal such a gap. :hmm:

 

[omarick1948]

OK! ... Simplest solution for a leaky horn! You won't even have to spin anything and do a war dance!

1. ___ Heat-up some bee's wax in a tin can with a hand bent pouring spout on the lip and melt about a walnut sized chunk of bee's wax.

2. __ With a new unused powder horn or other horn item that needs sealed. Heat the horn well with a hair dryer or paint gun. (Never a micro wave oven)!

3. __ Using gloves for protecting your hands. Quickly pour the hot liquid bee's wax into your horn and swirl around.

4. __ Now, cup your thumb and index finger around the spout and blow hard into the horn. You can also use compressed air with 10-20 pounds of air pressure!

5. __ Warm-up entire horn again with hair dryer or heat gun and dump out any excess bee's wax and let horn cool!

Leak Fixed!

Rick

 

[woodse guy]

Oh now you post the quick and easy method now that I almost got the gap filled. I will use that if I have the problem again. But the next question I have is how to prevent this from the beginning. First off if any one is looking to do a kit horn I will send them to this place great people to work with. Now John (I think that is his name) deals with so many horns that they can't all be perfect slap it together and call it done. Do to my inexperience I over looked the fit of the base plug. I stuck it in it fit went all the way in good to go wrong. So how could I have prevented this problem from the start. The horn was set up very well for a beginner to start with. The problem that I'm trying to fix is my fault not the ones that sent me the horn. So here is what the problem started as in the beginning. When I put the base plug in it slid all the way in like it was suppose to. I could tell that one side was not touching the plug like it should have been. I thought that the nails may pull the horn in tight. Could I have heated up the horn and squeezed it to make it touch the base plug or should I have tried to turn a new base plug. I have access to a lathe so that could have been done. But what if I didn't have access to one what could I have done then?

 

[paulvallandigham]

When I did my first horn, I marked and drilled the holes for my brads, but then put epoxy on the edges of the wood plug where it fitted inside the horn. I let the glue dry, and checked for seals by blowing into the horn. ONLY then, did I put the brads into the horn to finish the "look". The horn was a basic, no frills horn, compared to what I have now( bought from people who know how to make horns!)

 

[omarick1948]

You can use this method for a round or natural shape base plug!.. For best results with turned base plugs, you have to round the horn and sand or scrape the same wall thickness for the entire base. Then you use calipers to measure the turning from the base to fit!

1. ___ Trim and square your large end of your horn and be sure that the edge is nice and flat!

2. ___ Set the horn base on a true flat surface (I use the bed table of my table saw)and if a slight gap is on the edge. Lay a sheet of 100 grit sandpaper on the table saw and put your horns cut base edge on the sandpaper and sand it nice and flat!

3. ___ Now, take a styrofoam plate and put your horn on the plate tip up and press down on the horn as hard as you can. Remove horn and you have a nice clean impression of the base of your horn and a pattern to use to lay on your wood for your base plug.

4. ___ Cut out your styrofoam pattern and trace it with a pencil onto the wood and cut-out your base plug with a coping saw or scrollsaw. You want to cut it out at an angle of about 10 degrees so it is slightly tapered. You might have to take a sanding block and sand the edges to get a good snug, but not to tight of fit. There should be at least 1/4 to 3/8 inch of horn, that goes into the horn for your base pegs/nails.

5. ___ Now, heat up your horn base area and carefully insert your horn base plug(no glue or bee's wax yet), as you are dry fitting it to shape and fit.

6 ___ Never overly force the plug into the horn and never get carried away on trying to pound it in, as you can split the horn easily at this point! If it seems to tight....sand the edges some more all the way around!

7. __ When your happy with the fit! .. You can then glue and peg it in the horn. Note! If you are going to dye your horn, do not glue or peg the horn until the horn is dyed/colored. When ready for final attachment. Just heat the end of the horn before pushing into place!

Rick

 

[woodse guy]

Is that what I should have done with this horn or is there another option that I could have used. Just curious what my options are if I have this problem in the future.

 

[MSW]

the second horn i ever made has a really cool base (well, at least i think so, but then again, i was never good at modesty). i took a bit of scrap lacewood and sawed it in half, making a bookmatch. then i put a small sliver of bloodwood between the matching halves and epoxied the whole mess together, forming a blank.

i then traced the shape of the horn onto the blank and added about a quarter inch (didn't know why at that point, but i've found that it pays to listen to the little voice in your head, unless it's telling you to stay home and polish your hand grenades- this is silly: hand grenades work fine even if they're dirty, but i digress).

i took this blank and epoxied it to the horn (or i epoxied the horn to the blank, depending on your politics). the quarter inch stuck out and looked really dumb, until i understood the voices in my head had meant me to extend the natural curve of the horn through the wood, which i did with a good bit of sanding and patience.

i'd post a photo, but my daughter trashed my last remaining camera (no great loss, inasmuch as it was a cheap - o) and i can't get photobucket to work as i want to anyway).

:cursing:

it goes with the bag which goes with my .36, which is stocked in lacewood (my first attempt at a stock from a blank ... i really like this gun, even if holds a vast array of whoopsies: the coolest tools are the ones you make yourself)

i have used this method with other horns- and added a bit of plug at the bottom of the blank, into which you can put brads or small nails if you like. it's necessary to drill holes for the nails, since they're only there for show, but if you go this very non- HC/PC route, you'll get the visual effect of a custom fit baseplug, along with the airtight seal of epoxy. then, in a fit of post- modernism, i put permalyn on it as a finish. this was a holdover from the horn which i built for my wife who when asked about the finish, said "i like shiny." hers is very much so, but i took OOOO steel wool to mine.

i'm sure that some would say that this is a cop out, and that i should be ashamed, but they're entitled to their opinions and i'm entitled to do what i want with my own gear ... i'm not presenting this as the be-all-and-end-all, just one option. go with what works for you!


well, that's the rant for this morning.

 

[omarick1948]

I guess that would be up to you! :idunno: .. I am just suggesting one method!