my powder horn........

[bob1961]

ready for some more talent in something other then wood or steel, well hang on tight folks ....started with a raw cow horn and cut off the rough junk and had this to start with....









started with the wooden base plug in oak from an old table leg i had around and trimmed it down to just snugly fit the horn without spliting it....



fitted and glued in, but if you look at the bottom of the wooden plug and the horn you can see a small gap ....



time for another band aid repair....i took the same glass bedding from my rifle and added red food color to it....then i took my triangle file and filed a 1/16" wide groove all the way around the seam and presto ya never would known i messed up if i haven't said nothing....



a true craftsman isn't ashamed to tell of mistakes he makes, but is more proud of them when they look like they were planned part of the finished product ....time for the opening for the powder hole and the taking down of the outside of the horn for some decoration....





needed a spot for the strap to mount to....





i used the same 3/16" chainsaw file to file a groove around the high flat i left at the small end for mounting the strap....
here is how it looked polished to show the colors in this nice horn....





decided to contour the base plug a bit and this is what i wanted, plus i used a piece of steel rod and bent it to shape to mount the strap on the base plug....



found my family crest online and did some scrimshaw on my horn as well....







then used a sharpe marker to fill in the lines then a light sanding took away everything but what was in the lines....

now to do some work on the woven strap....



no i'm sorry i can't say i made the strap, but had it made in the colors you do see and had them leave me the tag ends so i can use my macrame skills when i was a teenager in art class in school....had to set up a board tp keep things in order....



then let the knots and bead work begin....







trimmed the long ends off so not to get hung up on brush in the woods....



then weaved a strap for the brass plug to keep my powder dry....



next thread will be my possibles bag and accessories to go with it ....hope you have enjoyed my powder horn.........bob

....

[Normous]

THAT IS NICE SIR !!!

[Boo]

Excellent!

[Raymond]

I like it. Nice work.
Thanks,
Raymond

[bcmuledeer]

That sir is frigging cool!! Is there anything you do not do excellantly. Keep posting these pictures please, Love looking at them!

[bob1961]

my next thread will be leather work ........bob

....

[j.krug]

Bob that powder horn is awsome!!
Very nice work indeed!!

[Mr. Dynamite]

That is really cool!

What do you use to carve off the outside of the horn?
How do you make sure you don't go too deep?
How do you carve out the inside so it will dispense powder and not hold it in cracks and crevices inside?


And...

How big of an explosion would it make if the whole thing were to go off!

[bob1961]

That is really cool!

What do you use to carve off the outside of the horn?

files and a carpet knife blade that i put a curl on the edge by holding it 90 degrees to a sharpening stone....then use it as a scraper....

How do you make sure you don't go too deep?

feel....in one picture you can see through the horn and see the base plug, i shine a flashlight into it....

How do you carve out the inside so it will dispense powder and not hold it in cracks and crevices inside?

the horn is hollow to start with toward the point so far....you seen a wire bent into a curve behind the horn in a picture on my bench....i used that after i cut the big end off to match the outside curve of the horn....then i put it inside the horn and found how far the hollowness went into the point and marked it with a marker....that is where the horn became solid and i cut the tip off just a bit shorter from there and had a hole to start with....then just drilled it out so it was the size of the hole you see that goes into the main hollow in the body of the horn....

And...

How big of an explosion would it make if the whole thing were to go off!

it holds bout 3/4 of a pound of powder or bout 12 oz....you know an M-80 right, well that holds bout 1/3 oz of powder so i wouldn't want to be holding that horn if it went off ....that's why you never load from your horn into a barrel that was just fired, as it could have a hot amber still in barrel when you add the next load of powder....besides you want the same load of powder each time....so i have/use a powder measure that holds 85 grains of powder for each shot that i pour powder from horn into then into barrel....a pound of powder has 7000 grains in it, so would you rather have bout 4500 grains of powder that's in the horn going off or only 85 grains .........bob

....

[secret]

Great Job!!!! Very Creative!!! All you need now is to make a ball block quickloader.

[secret]

Then a pair of buckskins and a Hudson Bay blanket Coat [with deer horn buttons of coarse] then youll be ready for the Eastren Nationals!!!!!! Lean 2 traders blanket and some homemade moonshine!!!!

[bob1961]

Great Job!!!! Very Creative!!! All you need now is to make a ball block quickloader.

he he he, all the possibles bag accessory stuff is done....but you'll have to wait till the possibles bag thread is done ........bob

....

[frisky]

Another, fine piece of work!