Thread: Some info on Horn......

Originally Posted by randydance062449

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... It is most thin at the base and thickens to a solid tip ....

I love that bit Randy! It reminds me of something from Monty Python when the scientist explains his new theory about dinosaurs - "...thin at one end, thick in the middle, thin at the other end - and don't go claiming this as your own theory..."

Seriously though, it must have been done differently in the UK. After boiling for a prolonged period the inner core was extracted, the tip was cut off and the horn was held in pincers while sliced up the middle then pulled apart with another pair of pincers, put on a preheated and greased steel plate with another plate on top of it, the whole being in a steel cage and the process being repeated until all the bits of horn were separated by steel plates in the cage, then wedges were driven in to drive the plates together and the whole thing left to cool, usually under the ground. If they didn't use a pincer to hold the horn, the top was cut off and a conical pre-heated and greased steel former or a greased wooden one was used, the horn being placed on it and pushed down so it could be cut up the middle, then the same process was undergone.

This resulted in horn plates. If the pressure was too great, natural laminations became evident, spoiling the appearance. As it was, the horn usually split at the edges. The plates were sold on for use by people like comb and button makers, but if thin sheets were necessary for veneers - or more usually for lantern (=lant-horn) makers, it was softened again by boiling in oil to just under the heat of molten lead, and repressed. This made it more translucent. When cool it was found to delaminate more easily, and was split into sheets, softened again in oil, and re-pressed.

Water was only used in the preliminary stages (inner core removal) as it does get hot enough to properly mould the horn, or make blond horn translucent - only oil reaches this temperature. As for thicknessing it, a twin-handled drawknife was used and another boiling in oil and pressing to the desired thickness finished the job. The drawknife (a sort of plane without the body, more like a long spokeshave or scraper) was usually only used in the case of blemishes on the outer layer, the press being well able to thickness the sheets on its own.

How do we know all this? Because there is a wealth of printed literature produced in the heyday of the horn pressers, which is still available. Horn pressing in the UK was a very common practice and a source of employment to many people - like the Cutlers and other professions, they had their own guild and set of rules. The main centre of operations in the UK was originally London, but the boiling, etc, produces such nasty smells that complaints drove them to the limits of the city until eventually the main centre became situated at Sheffield. That was already so full of smoke, cinders, stinks, noise and dust that the horn pressers seemed innocuous!

Regards,
Neil