Thread: Looking for tips for working with raw horn.

A friend of mine bought me some cow horn at a yard sale and I'm not shure how to work with it. Any tips would be appreciated. Also they still have the stuff in them.

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I believe Brad Maggard may have done something with this several years ago. I know you have to do a LOT of work to get them into flat scales & it involves boiling them.

Perhaps this might be of some help. They've been working with horn for a few days

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0o74Dmsyes

Originally Posted by cudarunner

Perhaps this might be of some help. They've been working with horn for a few days

And no dust mask. You see the dust particles everywhere in the shop. A good way to live a long and healthy lung life.

If they have been off of the animal for quite a while the inside should loosen up by hitting it with a rubber mallet. There is a bit about that on youtube. I have a couple of pieces to work with eventually too so I am hoping to get some information here too.

looks like you got a good deal (i wouldn't have passed it up) but also a lot of work as it is still rather thick.As you may already know, it will get thicker toward the tip. if it were mine, i would stick a wire (or something stiff and flexible) in the end (once you have it cleaned out)to see how far it is hollow. then using that as a measuring guide, mark it on the outside and cut if off at that point. this will give you nice solid tip to possibly turn some brush handles with (or whatever you can think of). from there you can split it and flatten it after some boiling or heating. good luck, and let us know what you learn!

I finally got the core out of all of them and the black line marks where the solid part starts. On the Bighorn where the line starts at about 3 inches thick so I'm guessing that will make a really nice brush. The only problem being that I don't have a turning lathe....[emoji53]

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Originally Posted by Maximilian

And no dust mask. You see the dust particles everywhere in the shop. A good way to live a long and healthy lung life.

I agree on the lack of PPE (Personal Protection Equipment) I was merely showing how they worked with the natural equipment.

The lack of PPE seems to not be limited to this company as it's the same in Germany:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4tkfN8tAJE

I think that you could likely farm out the brush making. I would think it would not be too hard to find someone to take care of that. There are several guys here that do very nice work.

Originally Posted by cudarunner

I agree on the lack of PPE (Personal Protection Equipment) I was merely showing how they worked with the natural equipment.

The lack of PPE seems to not be limited to this company as it's the same in Germany:

Since I doubt they are oblivious to the fact it can severely ruin your health, my only guess would be they either smoke cigarettes and think they're screwed anyways or they have been doing it for so long they have gotten comfortable in their work environment and have decided to retire any protection. In any case the videos are always nice to watch.