Blowing my own trumpet!

[jojo]

Ok, not much to do with knives or bushcraft but hey! There will be a bit of leather work too.

My daughter found a couple of large cow horns at a car boot sale, just about 30" long, and she fancied a blowing horn out of one and gave me the other one to do as I wish!

So this is going to be a work in progress, sort of thread. Oh, and I have never worked with horn before apart from cutting my toenails...So should be interesting.

One of the horn as found. A bit mucky, various coloured smears of paint, anyway in need of cleaning

Big end squared up, the surface scraped with a Stanley blade, and the tip cut off. Not sure if scrapping was a good idea, the nice pattern on the surface is not so visible as it was, hopefully will re appear when polished and waxed. Scrapping give a much better surface than sanding and is quicker. If you do this, I'd suggest doing it outside and try not to sand...It stinks. And wear a dust mask too.

The embouchure, AKA the hole in which you'll blow. The hole is 3/4" diameter and about 1/2" deep, the small hole joining into the horn is 1/4". I have tried it. This thing is NOISY!!!

The front end. 4" wide. Quite big horn I think.

This is as far as I got with this project. I'll post more pics as I go along with it.


A pic of what I am aiming for, borrowed from here

 

[TeeDee]

Great Stuff!!
All i can think of now is the Horn from this, when the ship returns from the raid.;-

http://www.imdb.com/media/rm3250887936/tt0052365

 

[British Red]

Wow.

Thats going to be stunning Joel

Boromir - eat you heart out!

I am jealous beyond words

 

[Wayland]

Very nice.

 

[launditch1]

Its nice!The problem is..all the Mead will drain out of it

 

[Shewie]

That's an interesting looking project Joel, look forward to seeing the finished article

 

[jojo]

Its nice!The problem is..all the Mead will drain out of it

blast, never thought of that...

Thanks gentlemen. A fun project really, and a bit different. Makes a nice change to do new things. Next will be a powder horn I think, even though I don't have a use for it yet.. or one of those..

A rum flask Although I probably would put some brandy in it!!!

 

[British Red]

Next will be a powder horn I think, even though I don't have a use for it yet.. or one of those..

Oh don't................

I've just re-blued a 10 bore musket to hang on the wall of the new house with my Nessie and pouch....

But I don't have a nice powder horn for it yet - if you do one I won't like any others I find

Red

 

[jojo]

Oh don't................

I've just re-blued a 10 bore musket to hang on the wall of the new house with my Nessie and pouch....

But I don't have a nice powder horn for it yet - if you do one I won't like any others I find

Ohhh. any chance of a pic of this musket??

Anyway, I am practicing on these horns. I am going to buy another couple or two horns to make some proper powder horns....

I have fancied making some nice ones for a long while

 

[British Red]

I'll look forward to seeing them

The musket was in horrible state and has had a tough old life - its an 1807 10 bore which has been converted from flint to percussion lock at some point. Given the proof marks I suspect a military piece converted for civilian use in mid 1800s (as so many were). Likewise I think the foreend of the furniture has been cut back. Its no "gentleman's firearm" but a rustic farmers gun (or poachers or mountain mans ). Thats why I liked it (and it was dirt cheap)

It'll never be a museum piece but I love historical arms and have fixed it up enough to hang on a wall

Can't you just see your nessie with it though?

Red

 

[jojo]

Lovely old gun. I do like them a lot, the guns, the knives, the leather work. Which is why I tend to make things in that style, simple, functional but well made. If their stuff was good enough for these full time hunters, it's good enough for me, with my part-time interest in bushcraft!

Thanks for the pics Red. Do you know this site? Plenty to drool over if you like these guns!

It's an American site, of course. Such a pity there is so little here. I have just found out a couple of sites in France though, one on blackpowder and a bushcraft/mountaiman site too. They are much more into it there than here.

And yes, Nessie won't look at of place with this gun

 

[huntsmanbob]

If i only had one of those when i was in Boys Brigade ,instead of a crappie brass one when i was a kid

 

[Tengu]

Ive got a horn like that, but all white, no black tip

and some smaller ones...what size d you want for a powder horn??

 

[British Red]

Thanks for the pics Red. Do you know this site? Plenty to drool over if you like these guns!

I didn't - some great stuff on there

You'll have to come see Nessie in an 18th C house one day

 

[Pandabean]

Nice going so far. Horn can be a pain in the backside to cut. Or at least I found it to be when I tried making a horn. I have mines around somewhere however I just got it to the stage you did and it could make a sound with a bit of a puff by the back of my jaw became sore from it.

Anyways what I wanted to ask is what do you use for the mouthpiece in that finished picture you showed? I never thought about adding one.

 

[jojo]

Ive got a horn like that, but all white, no black tip

and some smaller ones...what size d you want for a powder horn??

Hi Tengu. PM coming your way in a few minutes.

You'll have to come see Nessie in an 18th C house one day

That would be a pleasure Red!

Nice going so far. Horn can be a pain in the backside to cut. Or at least I found it to be when I tried making a horn. I have mines around somewhere however I just got it to the stage you did and it could make a sound with a bit of a puff by the back of my jaw became sore from it.

Anyways what I wanted to ask is what do you use for the mouthpiece in that finished picture you showed? I never thought about adding one.

Pandabean. It is quite hard to cut isn't it. Mind you, I could be accused of cheating: I have got a bandsaw

I didn't find it difficult to make a sound, but I used to play the didgeridoo a bit some years back. You don't need to blow that hard, its a bit like playing the trumpet, you need to get your lips buzzing into the mouthpiece.

That finished horn is not mine, I found a site with some pictures including this one. The added mouthpiece is turned antler. It could be also turned wood. I also heard of people using a brass trumpet mouthpiece and looked into it, the blooming things are too expensive, a minimum of 40 quids... So mine is going to be made out of the horn!