Saving an Old Horn

[jon math]

I have had this horn forever. It had several cracks, an ill-fitting plug, no fill spout plug, and some holes at the base when I got it off a yardsale table.

I fixed the plug and tried to seal the holes to make the horn airtight, but the damage was pretty bad and the horn was a little brittle. I could never decide what to do with it and I finally determined to turn it into a shot horn that would only need to be able to hold loose pellets and not dangerous and fragile powder.

I built a pine plug that I painted blue to match my tradegun's stock. Patched the big holes and cracks with some sheet brass stock and carved a stopper with a heart shape to match the homespun weeping heart thumb piece of the tradegun. I painted the plug's heart red, that might have been gilding the lily a bit much. Scraped away a lot of rot from the outside and sealed it with a bit of stain to try to stabilize what was left. I carved a strap groove near the neck of the horn and opened the hole a bit for the shot to fit through. Finally, an old drawer pull became the other strap attachment point in the plug. It might not be historically correct, but it did save a horn from the waste basket.

The measure is made from a .45-70 case.

 

[Banjoman]

One of my old horns is a shot horn.

 

[Powder Sniffer]

I like it, looks like something out of Mad Max if it took place in the 1800's, but better to repurpose than throwing it away.

 

[jon math]

I like it, looks like something out of Mad Max if it took place in the 1800's, but better to repurpose than throwing it away.

It is too bad the horn was abused in it's earlier life as it has a nice double twist and is almost round at the plug end.