Welp, I botched my first powder horn about 10 hours into it.

[AFriendOfLife]

Hey all. I had a buffalo powder horn kicking around that I had started a while ago. I finally kicked myself hard enough to finish it.

My plan was to boil it in oil and flatten it. Not common for buffalo I know, but I've seen it done before.

Well, like an idiot, I left my horn in the oil while it was heating, so I cooked it, it started bubbling pretty badly.

I still went ahead with shaping it to see how well it would shape, hoping I could at least clean it up and just have a birthmark on the horn, but it started cracking.

So 10-15 hours wasted. I know it's my first horn, and I know I can't learn without mistakes....

But damn, it hurts a lot.

Any good ideas on how to salvage this? Maybe I can cut it shorter and make a small powder horn, or at least a priming horn (depending on how well it cleans up...)

My pre-1840's mentor says the mountain men never made the same mistake ONCE. So now that you've seen my mistake, don't leave your horn in the oil damnit!

 

[Thomas.bill92]

Ahhh bummer!

 

[Colonial Boy]

Nicely cooked but not edible!

I’d just nail it to the wall as a reminder; your next one will be OK.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Buff/bison horn is pretty thick and not easily workable. It has never been a preferred material for my tastes. A finished buff horn is heavy. You might just want to use the material for other purposes and find a bovine horn for your next project.

 

[leadhoarder]

I always heard you can’t eat the horns.