Horn rehab project

[LongWalker]

I saw several flat horns in museums in the UK.  Some, carved on the sides or sides and edges, were roughly 1/2" thick.  I'd never managed to get one that thin while retaining enough thickness to carve.  Then I got to handle one and learned the carving was usually ~.010" deep.  Still haven't done one that thin, but I may someday. 

No progress on my rehab horn, and I'm about to throw in the towel and post it over on ALR.  I'd just rather work on my own projects than re-working this one. 

Did a batch of powder measures a couple weeks ago, got some ideas to play with there. I picked up some tools to re-work, and I'm going to try out the ideas this weekend--trashcan is empty, so if they don't work out I can destroy the evidence!   

[KDubs]

Looking forward seeing what you can do.
 I think I'm taking a short break from horns and going to get back to making a bag or two
 Recently finished milling 4# of BP,  and pucked and ground up another 1 1/2# of the same.
 So I'm all set on that for awhile too.
 Never been diagnosed with ADHD but I'm sure I have it, probably just ADD , I'm not to hyper.
I can be pretty lazy when I want too.
 Good luck on the projects, post up some pics as you can
 Kevin

[LongWalker]

I think today--as  soon as the shop gets warmed up to at least 50 degrees F--I'm probably going to work on some powder measures.  There's a couple of originals I've admired for a time, I want to play with the turning and the carving.

[Bigsmoke]

A while back, I bought some horns that someone had started.
I needed one real fast and chose one that would handle Fg powder.  It had a Treso pour spout on it.  That worked out pretty good.  Except it is one ugly, ugly horn.
A month or so ago, I started working on another one that was half started and as I was filing on a groove I discovered a worm hole coming in from the inside of the horn.  And a couple of ones on the side of the tip.  That went back into the box.
Another one has the baseplug already installed but I just cannot figure out what I want to do with it now.
I think I will put the whole box onto the shelf and start out with fresh horns.  I have little patience trying to rehab someone else's work.
John

[KDubs]

Well John you can always turn them into Combs and spoons
Kevin

[Bigsmoke]

Well, that is an idea worth thinking about, but...  NO
20 some years ago Linda McWhorter who was the purchasing agent at Dixie Gun Works told me that the old fellow who had been making their combs either was retiring or had died, I forget which, and would I be interested in making combs for them.  I had more than enough on my plate at that time and politely declined the offer.
I imagine that if a person was making combs, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to make horn forks as well.  One would think they would be at least better than plastic ones.  Then you could make forks, teaspoons and soup spoons.  I would think one could get the whole set out of one medium size horn.  How sweet.
John

[LongWalker]

Got some shop time this weekend (could have had more if I wasn't so lazy!).  Figured out some fixtures for some carving I want to do, tried a new holding fixture for the lathe (didn't work, but a plywood wall and metal ceiling do wonders for hiding any damage when something comes apart on the lathe).  Figured out how I'm going to copy a feature on an original I recently saw.  Put on some music (I know I'm concentrating enough when I'm not aware of the background music) and got some work done. 

Turned a plug for the current horn, got it j-u-s-t right: airtight without sealant, no light under the lip that covers the edge of the horn.  Popped it out and set it aside for carving and fitting the staple.  Burnished up my favorite scraper and paced around final scraping the horn. . . not sure I like the current raised ring at the spout, I may have to do some more work there. 

Started work on a planned copy of an original buff horn.  This one is a decent size, roughly 1 1/4# of powder.  I need to find a horn big enough to make a ring for the big end, right under the end plug. 

Heck, I need to find some decent relatively-thick horn to make rings as my stash is depleted.  Got two blanks for rings out of my cutoff box, but too small for this horn.  They cleaned up and rough-turned nicely though, which is a pleasant surprise given that the horn they were cut form had some serious flaws.  I set aside the rest of that horn for cups/salt horns, may have to re-visit that and make more rings. 


--and paced around final-scraping a horn.