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Antlers and Horn

Tradavang

Apprentice Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2018
Posts
4
Location
NorthEast
First Name
Dave
Hi , I’m going to a deer farm soon to track down some antler for pens, but has anyone tried sheeps horn? It’s a lot easier to get hold of.
Cheers.
 

silver

General dogsbody
Executive Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2013
Posts
6,301
Location
Somewhere in Staffordshire,
First Name
Eamonn.
Me personally no but have done buffalo horn

Would imagine it’s the same provided that it’s solid and not too porous and also had time to dry
 

Lons

Fellow
Joined
Dec 17, 2013
Posts
4,753
Location
Northumberland
First Name
Bob
Sheep horn is pretty useless I think because it's thin and hollow, you would need to get hold of some decent rams horn and even that has a soft core, it has to be heated and compressed to make it useable for stick handles.

Good rams horn isn't easy to find these days and the cost would surprise you I think. I have a nice rams horn I've had for 30 years just waiting for that stick to be made, :goesred: I've been tempted by offers but resisted so far.
 

Gregory Hardy

Graduate Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2017
Posts
454
Location
Upper New York State
First Name
Greg
Cow horn can be useful, but like sheep horn, it is hollow for the majority of its length. A twelve-inch long cow horn will still be solid from the tip for two inches or so, and it turns much like buffalo horn. Scottish Highland cow horn offers a little more length than the rest. (I want to add, "I suspect that any good Highlander would boast the same, " but this is a family-friendly forum. :whistling: ) In any instance with turning horn, prepare yourself for an odor that will drive the unsuspecting right out of the shop.

The thin walls of cow horn can also be "molded" to some degree. Sanded thin, you can put it in boiling water for a hour and - while still hot (wearing leather gloves or your wife's oven mitts if she doesn't catch you) - it can be bent around a form and clamped in place while it cools. It bends easiest lengthwise with the grain of its growth. Whether or not you could gain the small radius of a pen tube is questionable, but some of the work I've seen done by powder horn makers is pretty amazing.
 

silver

General dogsbody
Executive Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2013
Posts
6,301
Location
Somewhere in Staffordshire,
First Name
Eamonn.
See, loads of info that I didn’t know anything about, just from a simple question.

Don’t you just love the breadth of info on here.

By the way. I used to drive through a village every day called Ramshorne

That was easy to turn. :goesred: Sorry I will get me coat. :whistling:
 

Dalboy

Executive Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2014
Posts
7,679
Location
Kent
First Name
Derek
Horn was also cut along the length and boiled in water as stated above which also helped it become semi-transparent and flat and then cut into squares to make the sides for lamps hence the name lamphorn which eventually over the years became lantern. See I watch Time team and goes to prove that you can teach an old dog new tricks:whistling::whistling::whistling:

I would like to find some cow horn and try it
 
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