Horn stink?

[WKevinD]

I sent a few of my boys to freezer camp and have the skulls. I hung them outside the barn for a while and have slipped the horn shells of one of them. No blood or tissue inside of them but they stink. Any tricks to making this go away so I can work with the horns?
Kevin

[TN Longhunter]

Soap and water. I think what you are smelling is the decay from the tissue from the skull. Horn will have a strong smell when burning from flame or working but should be benign by its self. If you want to drive someone away from a fire, slip some horn shavings into it when they aren't looking. Not that I would do it.

[EC121]

Probably some left over tissue from the core of the horns.  I had some raw horns stink up my shop one time.

[Greg Pennell]

Not to change the subject, but those are some handsome fellers...what breed are they?

Greg

[WKevinD]

Greg,
Those are Scotch Highland Coos. They are wonderful beasts with great personalities and they are made of meat!
With their long coats they are well suited to our North East winters and would rather spend time outside than in a barn. They are more browsers than grazers and clean up rough pastures.
Kevin

[stubshaft]

I've used vinegar to kill most of the odor, but you have to make sure that most of the tissue is brushed out of the interior.

[rich pierce]

 Boiling outdoors will help loosen everything and release a lot of stink.  Bugs will clean it better than anything but critters might take it away if you leave it on an ant hill. 

[WKevinD]

As we get closer to winter there are no cleanup bugs around but plenty of critters that will chew. They are big horns so a vessel to boil them is a bit of a challenge but that seems like a boil and a vinegar swab should help.
Will boiling delaminate the horn layers?
Kevin

[R.I.J.]

I have used Dawn dish soap and warm water followed with Baking Soda/water, both with liberal use of a bottle brush.

[Tim Crosby]

 Have you used horns like that before? They look like some I saw once and they were pretty solid and had very little curve to them. Burying then in a manure pile will prevent bugs, perserve them and take care of one smell.

  Tim C.

[WKevinD]

"Have you used horns like that before?"
I'm not a hornsmith just a sentimentalist. These guys were part of our lives for a few years and if beasts can be were friends.
We raised them to harvest the meat, the horns are an afterthought. They are fairly straight and hollow and light for most of their 30"+ length. Hollow length 26" confirmed with a wire.
A while back there were a number of hunting horns shown, that is what I envision. Once I get past the smell issue I'll try and figure out how.

Kevin

PS I just did a search and found some of the hunting horns (blow horns) I was referring to- they were made by Tim Crosby

[ron w]

I wonder if hydrogen peroxide would work ?.

[Mike Lyons]

Soap and water, salt, borax and baking soda.  One of those should work.  I’d try borax first. 

[snapper]

When I was in Paraguay I bought some raw horns that were fresh off the critters.  They stunk as well.  I had to triple bag them hoping they would not stink up the plane coming home.  Time took care of the smell.

I was in a local market and they had a few vendors with stuff made out of horn.  I tried to talk to one of the guys regarding getting some raw ones.  He did not speak English, I did not speak Spanish or Guarani.  So I thought I would pull out my Spanish English pocket dictionary.  I could not pronounce the words right apparently, so I thought I would simply show him the words.  Only to find out he could not read.  Ended up giving a guy a Cuban cigar to translate for me.  Came back a week latter and he was all smiles with my horns that were still bloody.

Fleener

[bigsmoke]

Years ago, I treated a batch of buffalo horns with sweet lime.  Worked pretty good.

[WKevinD]

What I ended up doing was rinsing the inside with white vinegar and packing them in a garbage pail filled with (oak) planer shavings for about a month. I have no idea why it worked but it's what I had and it did work.

Kevin

[Mike from OK]

I haven't tried it but one of my horn books recommends filling the horn most of the way with water and adding effervescent denture tablets... Supposed to loosen remaining tissue for easier removal and help deodorize the horn.

For light jobs on regular size horns you can get by with one tablet. Really funky and/or bigger horns might require multiple tablets.

Mike

[Bigmon]

My Son has used those flesh eating beetles to clean deer skulls to the bone.  Nothing left.  But I was once told that the beetles could eat horn? I don't know if that's true.  But if you can find someone in your area that does what they call "European Mount" they might do it for you?