Where do you folks buy your raw horns from

I just picked up one from Ebay for a decent to price to practice on.
For the horn makers, where do you like to get your horns from?
Ive been looking at several online places and its hard to tell the quality of horns you can get.

Powder Horns & More has gotten quite a few positive reviews on this forum. I haven't done business with them, yet. But I do plan to.

I buy them where I can find them, but usually when the sale includes photos before purchase.

But in truth I get most of mine from the source, calling on rancher friends to save them for me from cattle that die or from the coop slaughterhouse. Got my "order" in for some really nice ones. A rancher managed to get a herd off a remote Alaska island populated with feral stock left behind by Russian settlers back in the day. They're especially notable for their great shape, but it also helps that they're snow white. Haven't received the first yet, but I'm thinking they'll be beyond prime for recreating artifacts of all sorts from that era and the region. What better than original raw horn for making local products?

I also like starting with raw horns but what you're describing sounds like extra raw. I watched a video of a vet removing horns once and wondered how they process all of the inside goop out of the horn?

(for anybody interested who doesn't want to watch the video: the animal is bound by two concave gates that close around its neck and then the vet uses something that looks like large bolt cutters to lop them off.)

Lay them out in the sun for a couple of weeks,be sure they are up out of the reach of dogs and such.After a bit the core will dry out and is fairly easy to remove. R.C.

I got horns from a local slaughter house. They were still dripping...

I boiled a large pot of water OUTSIDE, and dropped the horns in. The horns boiled for forty-five minutes or more. Holding the hot horns by the tips, just give the base of the horns a good stout couple of whacks on a 2” X 4”. The core of the horns just popped out.

Be careful with the hot horns. Doing it outside saved my ears from getting overheated... :rotf:

they're snow white. Haven't received the first yet, but I'm thinking they'll be beyond prime for recreating artifacts of all sorts from that era and the region. What better than original raw horn for making local products?

Click to expand...

We need a 'drool' similie. :wink:

Thank you and thank you to R.C. as well! :hatsoff:

I get mine from the local butcher, he's down the road from the office. If I could get to others I would try to get horns from all of them. I cut then off from heads in with a sawsall boil them outside for 10 min a couple whacks with a rubber mallet or not, and I insert a 2in screw into the bone core and pull on the screw with a pair of pliers and there ready to go.

I was getting them from Roland Cadell at Dixon's or other Honourable Company of Horners events. Some smelled a bit, but not too hard to manage. He also had imported clean horns.

I think that it safe to say, that probably 90% or higher of the HIGHER QUALITY COW HORNS (scrimshaw quality) today are imported from Mexico and South America by a very few cow horn dealer's in this country. These imported cow horns cost considerably more for consumers due to high shipping fee's and other importing regulations permits, taxes and government restrictions fee's. Once the imported cow horns are in the U.S., the cow horns are held in quarantine and health inspection for 30 days before being released to dealer.

The cow horns mentioned above are the cow horns most, but not all Horner's (Hornsmith's) purchase and their main supply source.

The cheap shiny polished cow horns you see in some M/L Supplies or Native American Craft catalog's are imported from India and other Far East junk merchant's and to thin or to thick etc., for a quality powder horn.

I buy most of my cow horns from Powder Horns & More and buy several dozen cow horns annually and have for many years and highly recommend them.

Rick

I've also gotten from ebay. The bigger lot you buy, the cheaper they are. You really don't know what you will get until you get it but makes for some cheap ones to practice on.

By the way, Powder Horns and More was started by John and Linda Shorb, who previously owned October Country. Very nice folks, as are, I am sure, the present owners, who bought the company from John in 2014.

The last horns I bought are from Paraguay.

I was there doing some work and in the market area was all sorts of horn cups and stuff. However, no just plain horns.

I tried to talk to one of the vendors, but he did not speak English, and I do not speak Spanish or Guaraní. I tried to talk to him using my Spanish/English dictionary I was toting. That did not work. So, I thought I could simply show him the words, I dont think he could read so I struck out.

On the other side of the market, I did speak to a vendor in English, and asked him if he would like to earn a Cuban cigar as an interpreter.

So, with my new found interpreter, we struck a deal. I came back the next Saturday and the vendor was there with a bag of very fresh horns that were raw, and bloody, and starting to stink.

Triple bagged them to get them back in the USA. I need to finish up a couple more of them.

Fleener

Our local packing plant, which is about 20 minutes from our place. = They kill a lot of cattle for such a small place.

yours, satx

DOUBLEDEUCE 1 said:

I got horns from a local slaughter house. They were still dripping...

I boiled a large pot of water OUTSIDE, and dropped the horns in. The horns boiled for forty-five minutes or more. Holding the hot horns by the tips, just give the base of the horns a good stout couple of whacks on a 2” X 4”. The core of the horns just popped out.

Be careful with the hot horns. Doing it outside saved my ears from getting overheated... :rotf:

Click to expand...

and don't use your wife's stock pots either! She will never let you forget!

I get mine from Dixon's at the Gun Makers Fair.