Cleaning out a cow horn - how to?
Steven L Anderson
it! How does one go about cleaning out a cow horn? I have a good
source (a vet) for them, but I want to know how to prepare it. Any
sources (or just a quick rundown) would be greatly appreciated.
Erik Sannvik
F.L. Watkins
I recommend that anyone wishing to work with horn--or wood or
leather, etc.--get a copy of THE BOOK OF BUCKSKINNING ii, edited
by William Scurlock and published by Rebel Press (publishers of
MUZZLELOADER Magazine). II contains a lengthy article on powder
horns and an absolutely indispensible article by George Glenn
on making camp equipment. He deals with box, beds, chairs, valises
and much else. My copy of II has been used so often that the
varnish has come off the corner; and I recommend it for anyone
in pre-19th century reenacting.
The section on horn tells how to clean it, how to shape it and
gives you such projects as a horn spoon, a cup and several other
useful items.
Any of the BOOKS OF BUCKSKINNING are great (and can be used by
medieval reenactors as well, so don't be put off by the title);
they are some of the few books published by someone else that we
regularly keep in stock. They can be picked up at most black-
powder events, at events we attend, from the publisher (Rebel
Publishing Co., Rte 5, Box 347-M, Texarkana, TX 75501 or from
most book stores that make special orders (it'll take a while,
though). The price is currently $12.95 and the ISBN is
o-9605666-2-7, LOC 80-54597.
Hope this helps, Folo
--
Damin de Folo - F.L.Watkins - fo...@prairienet.org
Baron Wurm Wald (MK) - Commander Baldwin's Reg't (NWTA)
"I'm not quite clear about what you just spoke--
Was that a parable or a very subtle joke?"-Crash Test Dummies
del...@meena.cc.uregina.ca
from the inside, and then work it over with a bottle brush. I DON't know
how to polish it, but I will agree with the need to seal it by some means
(in one of the leatherwork Compleat Anachronists there's a recipe for a
pitch sealer that's probably better even than wax), not only because the
horn will ALWAYS give off the essense of damp cow (yum!), but because any
liquid you put into it can get into the horn and stain it. Especially bad
for fruit-punch fanciers...
Cedric van Kiesterzijl
"Mmmmm, froot punch...."
Donan
One way I did it was boiling the horns in water for a longh period of time,
just make sure you do this outside, my house stunk for many, many hours
afterwards of "boiled beef", but that didn't really seem to work too well
I found, so I let Mother Nature take over.
It was summer time when I did this and I just set the horns outside for a week
and let Nature's meat cleaners (yes, I used maggots) to clean out all the
flesh from the inside of the horns, leaving behind the inner core of the horn
that is normally connected to the skull.
Those little guys cleaned it out quite nicely, although it did look kinda
disgusting with the maggots crawling around inside.
After about a week, I could easily remove the center from the horn and then
boiled it out again, killing off/sterilizing everything that may have been
left behind.
As for treating the horn, you could use the old fashioned wax method, but as
you know, wax dissolves in liquids eventually. But if you want something that
protects as well as compliments the natural beauty of the horn, go to your
local craft store and look for "Envirotech" or "Envirotech Light". It's a
simple polymer plastic coat used for covering woodwork and such, like
Verithane, but 50x greater in protection but is not poisonous after it dries.
It's really easy to use, just follow the directions on the box.
Hope this helps and best of luck to you
And I invite anyone to write me, telling me how this method worked for them,
In service to all,
Lord Donan MacGlashan
Duren J Thompson
this one go. Locally, Sir Goldmund of Aragon taught a class a few years back
at a Norse workshop on cleaning a horn. He used varying sized gravel to slowly
but surely clean it out. Now I know this isn't very fast, but I'm pretty sure
it's period. Basically you start with large (sharp if possible) gravel pieces,
cover the end with something (to protect your hand) and shake it alot. Then you
move to smaller and smaller stones until you are using sand to polish the
inside. He advocated wax to coat it but I recommend not using beeswax as it is
a little soft and softens easily in the heat. (Imagine getting to Pennsic and
finding melted wax all over everything.) Some of the more commercial wax
hardeners would be advised.
Thanks, and Hi demere and martha!
Solveig Ericsdottir
I am told my address is sol...@utkvx.utk.edu but I haven't tried it yet. I'm
just now taking a technology course and trying to get myself into trouble in
the internet.