I'd like advice on these questions.
1. Is the base roundable or is it likely to crack? I plan to use hot oil.
Even though your horn is egg shaped it is not that bad and you should be able to round it. You will need to be careful in how hot the oil is and in how long you leave he horn in the oil. I heat my oil to appx. 340-350 degrees and leave the horn in the hot oil for about 15 seconds. If you leave the horn in the oil to long it will turn to a plasticy putty.
2. What should I do with the gauge at the base?
That is a tough question, but maybe, as you say, you could sand the gouge out after you have the butt plug mounted.
3. How much carving dare I do? Only 1.6" of the tip is solid. The horn weighed 11.2 ounce raw and 8.2 ounces after cleaning. I've never done a bison horn before and I'm unsure how thick the walls are. I hoped to carve about 6" of the spout. 2" for a spiral shaped tip. 3" for a octagon spout with inlaid silver filigree panels (0.04" deep). 1 " for wedding bands between the sections.
Buffalo horns are generally quite thick at the tip end and even farther up the horn. You might have a problem with the octagon section because it ends half way up toward the butt end. In filing an octagon you need more thickness than if you were just to file that part round. The only way you will know is to just do it. On the other hand you could drill a small diameter hole in the area you are going to mount the silver panels just to get an idea how thick the horn is at that point. You could do this so you could later plug the horn and the silver panel will cover the hole.
4. Is this horn more thin walled and hollow than usual? It's 13.5" long, 1.6" of the tip is solid. The base is 3.4" x 3.1", circumflex 10.1". Almost 1/3 of the horns weight was removed during clean up. The rim thickness varies from 0.145" to 0.06". I was hoping for a minimum of 0.100", so I could file a ledge to mount a filigree band on.
I don't know if the thickness is thin because you made it that way trying to remove the gouges or if it was just naturally thin? I have two buff horns down in my shop that I have cut the flair off and scraped smooth. the thickness of both these horns at the butt end is .125" or a bit thicker. One horn is 13" around the outside curve and I have filed it down from the tip to 6-1/2" up the horn. The depth of the filing at the top of this area is approximately .080 deep and I will probably file it even deeper before I am done. However, I don't think I could carve this area to an octagon shape. I feel sure I would file right through the horn. Just my opinion, but an octagon shape should only be attempted in the lower portions of a horn unless you have a very thick horn.
It seems to me you have two problems. First you received a horn with two fairly substantial gouges in it. The second problem is that you already have a design in mind for the horn and you only have one horn to work with that may not be good for that design.
I guess, at this point, all you can do is try working the horn to the way you want it and if it doesn't work you can always get another horn.
Randy Hedden
www.harddogrifles.com
