Another bison horn

[Catof9tails]

Great job! This old Cat is still working on his artistic ability, Hee Hee

Cat9

 

[Old40Rod]

The relief carving looks great... one reason I've never used a berfaller horn is my lack of ingenuity in figuring out how to scrimshaw on a black surface... your carving solves that problem.

:master:

 

[oomcurt]

Great looking horn! You do good work :hatsoff: That said, I have been pondering about making a horn out of a buff for myself. The thing I am contemplating doing though is not smoothing it. From what I have seen...they are a lot rougher than bull's horn. Sort of a ridge after ridge thing. I was thinking of leaving that. As my interests lie in the fur trade era in the Rocky Mts.... It may be more "natural" doing that. I would appreciate hearing any thoughts on that.

 

[JeffS]

AZ, great job! You should have left the engrailing though! (Kidding)
I liked it fine, but it looks just as good without it. Nice carving on the buffalo, I wish I could do that. :thumbsup:

Hey Curt! How's it going? (Sparky/Jeff here...)

Leaving the rough grain might look pretty neat if you can get it fairly uniform? Maybe just trim off the nastiest stuff, and smooth out the rest just enough to make it comfortable to handle. Interesting idea. See ya Sunday!

I bought a raw buffalo horn that I have smoothed out pretty nice, but I havent worked on it for a few months. After seeing this thread I think I will jump back on it.

 

[cavscout]

i just got one and never done a horn before. how did you initially polish it? with sandpaper or a file.

 

[JeffS]

Initially I used a knife for the really big nasty stuff, then files, then sand paper to remove all tool marks. Havent polished mine yet.

Others may have better ideas to contribute.

 

[cavscout]

i was just thinking it would take forever with just sandpaper, but wanted to ask. i got the silby's book but it don't explain the polishing part.

 

[AZ-Robert]

I used steel wool instead of sandpaper for the finish work after scrapping with a knife and cleaning up rough spots with a file. That will still leave it looking a little gray. Burnishing it with the back of a spoon or something similar will leave it nice and black, with a very low sheen.

When I was finished carving mine, I ran a buffing wheel over it to get out the last few scratches. Left the horn too glossy but the first time I handled it with BP residue on my hands took care of that. Beeswax handrubbed gives a nice low-gloss sheen.

I carved the base plug from white pine and used fabric dye to turn it black. Rubbed some beeswax into it and it looks just like the horn.

 

[AZ-Robert]

Great looking horn! You do good work :hatsoff: That said, I have been pondering about making a horn out of a buff for myself. The thing I am contemplating doing though is not smoothing it. From what I have seen...they are a lot rougher than bull's horn. Sort of a ridge after ridge thing. I was thinking of leaving that. As my interests lie in the fur trade era in the Rocky Mts.... It may be more "natural" doing that. I would appreciate hearing any thoughts on that.

Thanks for the compliments.

To get that look, I suggest starting with a knife and scrapping instead of using a file or rasp. Work from base to tip, along the grain, and you should get the roughest stuff off pretty quick. That will still leave you with a grayish horn and long whitish fibers running the length of it, but smooth enough to look okay. If you like that look, stop there and try some beeswax. If you don't like it, keep scrapping and it will get more and more black, and fewer and fewer fibers. The fibers seem to run deeper near the base than at the tip, so vary the depth of your scrapping to get a uniform look.

 

[AZ-Robert]

AZ, great job! You should have left the engrailing though! (Kidding)
I liked it fine, but it looks just as good without it. Nice carving on the buffalo, I wish I could do that. :thumbsup:

Thanks :grin: That engrailing was too deep... if had taken the horn down to its final thickness and then done the engrailing, I probably would have liked it better. But I thought it made the horn look "clunky" and busy... too much going on.

I'm not much of an artist and surprised myself with that buffalo. Used the back of an old five-cent piece as a model and just jumped in. Turned out okay, I think.

There is a lot of thickness in these horns, at least the ones I've worked. You have plenty of room to clean up the shape, and to do some relief carving if that is your fancy.