Horn Pane Material

[BaronBrian]

I was reading through a description of early lanterns and they mentioned using a flattened cow horn as pane material. I'm planning on making a lantern and I'd like to put this in. How would you prepare the horn to shape it? Does it need to be thinned down? Any ideas/suggestions?

 

[Black Hand]

My guess would be to cut it open, flatten it with heat and scrape it thin. That's how I would do it.

 

[paulvallandigham]

YOu boil them in oil to flatten them, and then scrape them very thin, to allow light through. When they come out of the oil, its like scraping finger or toe nails after a hot soak.

Don't be thinking of window panes. Think of the panes in a candle lantern, which are much, much smaller.

 

[BaronBrian]

When you say oil I assume you're not referring to motor oil (or something similar). You mean a veggie oil of some kind, correct?

Don't be thinking of window panes. Think of the panes in a candle lantern, which are much, much smaller.

So is it not very strong over large areas?

 

[hornbuilder]

Before going too far on this topic let me try and clear one thing up .. heat horn with hot oil ,,,,never boil .....if you do it will turn into something unworkable ..... and yes a veggie oil will work fine ! the temp. to stay around is between 325- 350 ... anything higher will certainly burn it beyond help**
good luck !!

 

[paulvallandigham]

Honrbuilder is right. I misspoke with I said " boil in oil". The boiling temperature of oil is much hotter than what you want. Use vegetable oil. The point is to soften the horn so you can cut is, lay it out flat, and scrape it while its still pliable.

As for size, maybe you have access to incredibly large horns, but the ones I have seen tend to be less than 6 inches around. That does not make for large panes, in my book.

 

[Titus]

Hornbuilder is right on those temps, go higher than that and expect your horn to look like potato chips. Ive heard that peanut oil works well although I am under correction here. :surrender: Boiling water is easier and safer for the horn but takes a lot longer that heated veg oil. :v

 

[BaronBrian]

Well when I heard boiling oil, I just mentally replaced that boiling with "hot." After all, I don't want to see what happens to horn after being dropped into something that hot.

Titus, I like your suggestion. It sounds a little safer then firing up a big pot of hot oil.

Well now I just have to sit down and give it all a whirl.