repairing a crack in a powder horn

[tnlonghunter]

Well, the powder horn I made back in July ended up cracking. The crack begins at the butt-plug and extends about 2 1/2" toward the spout. I'm not sure how it happened. I thought I sealed the plug really well to prevent it swelling or anything like that. I suppose that it could have just gotten banged real hard by something, but I don't know when.

Anyway, how would I got about fixing it? It was my first horn and I don't really want to just relegate it to decoration.

 

[MSW]

tnlonghunter, that's a bummer to hear of your cracking horn!

i don't know if you're hot on the HC/PC thing or not- if you are, you'll probably have to settle for a semi permanenet fix based on beeswax or possibly some sort of tar as might have been used in a ropeworks.

if you're not that concernted about PC/HC (as i am not) i would take a look for a good putty type epoxy in your local hardware store.

although i've never used it on horn, i have used stuff called PC7 on repair around the barn and the house. it is dark to meduim grey when mixed and dried, and will expand and contract slightly (about two percent according to the label). it won't stick to anything oily, but adheres well to wood, anything porus, and metals. you can saw and machine it after it cures, and is plenty strong. also, it bridges gaps very well. their website is http://www.pcepoxy.com.

good luck with your repair- hope this helps.

 

[ohio ramrod]

While not PC good old super glue works on horn cracks. Just put a layer of masking tape around the crack and then fill the crack with super glue. Loctite makes a super glue in three differnt viscositys from thin to thick.It will help to blend in if you have some horn sanding dust to top it off with while the glue is still drying.

 

[StevePrice2]

:cursing: I split one this weekend,too. :cursing:
I mixed some two part fast cure epoxy and gently pried the spit open to force epoxy in the crack and let go. Once it cures, I'm hoping the sanding and repolishing will work fine. Mine's not an art horn so the repair may show and that will be fine, too.
good luck,
Steve

 

[DNICK]

I've had one crack, what I did was used a clear epoxy to repair it when the epoxy set up I scraped it to match the finish of the horn you couldnt see the repair even if I pointed it out but I used it as an excuse to give it a rawhide wrap repair I just like the looks of rawhide on horn, it also gave me a perfectly good reason to build another horn (already have more horns than rifles) but the repair on the horn was permanent and water tight. Duane

 

[longshot47]

Hard to comment without seeing it but, trying to conceal/obscure the fix gets tricky. Using a carefully set staple or two, or maybe some type of wrap [rawhide, copper wire etc.]would be an honest approach.

 

[Sunkmanitu Tanka]

I dunno but I just read the comments on the repairs on leaky canteens and horn drinking cups etc... They use brewers pitch ... I also used it with succes on a canteen and just wonder: could'nt it be also be used to repair a (small) crack in a powder horn? Depending the widt of the crack it might be worth the try?

 

[Robby]

Tnlonghunter, When I deal with something like this, I figure, If I can't rope it out, I'll rope it in. What I mean Is, If I can't mend it in such a way as to hide the repair, I make the repair part of the character of the piece.
I think you probably could hide the repair with some of the epoxy or super glues. If you want to make the repair part of the horn, use a rawhide (not leather) patch and hide glue. Once it hardens on, you can blend it into the horn with a file, and some good paste wax, periodically will protect it from the weather. Good luck!
Robby