Cracked Powder Horn

[piotr-cz]

Horn had two cracks, which tied with copper wire, making a whole to become an interesting look
cow horn, wood, copper nails, copper wire
length of the curve 24 cm

[skillman]

I like this horn. It is super simple and has a tip small enough to prime with. Nice color. I'm not a big fan of the huge butt on a horn like this but I have certainly seen examples much like this. If the horn cracked and it needed to be repaired then this is reasonable. If it was done for effect, that would be a different matter.
Nice work. Keep it up.

Steve

[Hungry Horse]

 I wouldn't put powder in a cracked horn on a bet. A powder horn is just an unborn hand grenade, at best. using one that has been compromised by a crack is just nuts. Adding metal shrapnel as a repair is even worse. At least rawhide might blow apart, copper wire will not. No matter how cool and old timey it looks, get an unbroken horn.


                       Hungry Horse

[Bob Roller]

Wiser words are seldom heard when it comes to black powder. I remember an
incident at Friendship many years ago when a spark from a flintlock went into
an unplugged horn and the only thing that prevented a worse burn was that the
horn had been scraped thin to the point it was semi transparent and the pressure
created more of a
poof" than a "KABOOM.

Bob Roller

[piotr-cz]

Horn is also protected from inside and outside the cracks are filled with wax.
It is resistant to moisture

[Hungry Horse]

 Believe me, you only have to see one horn blow up, to get real gun shy, real quick. When I was just getting started in buckskinning, back in the seventies, a young kid came to rendezvous, with a powder horn he made from a small cow horn, and a stick from a beaver dam. The stick wasn't thoroughly dry, when he whittled one end down to fit the mouth of the horn,  a handful of upholstery tacks around the plug, and it held powder, good enough. A couple of 110 degree California days, and a shrunken plug, now created a disaster that was simply hunting a location. He dropped his horn, and bag, a few feet from his cooking fire, leaned his rifle against one of the pole of his Baker tent and headed for the ice chest, after finishing the trail walk. His girl friend took the opportunity to get away from the cooking fire, and make a call of nature. Nobody saw what actually happened, but we all heard it. reconstructing the event proved that the horn had been leaking for some time, but hadn't found a means of ignition. Either the fire popped a spark, or something else set it off, no matter, it did a lot of damage. Some of the tacks went twenty yards. Luckily nobody got hit by these little missiles.

                            Hungry Horse

[T.C.Albert]

I worry about metal powder flasks doing the same thing if the valve plate
is loose or doesn't quite close all the way...a good spark shower from a flintlock
could be enough to light it up....same thing for a regular powder horn if you
forget to put the stopper back in after loading...its a different subject, but that's why
some folks will not put the stopper on a string.
tca

[Hungry Horse]

T.C.;

  I share your concern in this area. The one that really gives me the willies big time, is the custom made priming horns, or flasks, that use the little brass push type priming valves.  Some buckskinners wear them on a necklace around their necks. I've seen several of those at shoots out on the coast, with a big blob of powder stuck to the tip of the valve just waiting for a spark.
 Rifle type flasks the hang spout up are an open invitation to an accident, as well. The action of the spring in the mechanism of nearly all flasks, torque's the lever, and cut off plate,  making a good seal nearly impossible.

                      Hungry Horse

                                 

[Pete G.]

Repair cracks from the inside with epoxy or perhaps brewers pitch. I wouldn't trust wax to stay for long. Looks like the plug might need a little attention too. Might be better to save this horn for display and pics, since it does look kind of cool and get another for use.