Best way to hold horn while shaping it?

[Jerry V Lape]

After making a few horns I am still frustrated with inability to secure it to a vise.  How are you securing the horn to work on it while shaping.

[Bull Shannon]

Here is a video which shows two ways of making a jig  that will allow one end to be secured  in a vise with the other end  placed in the horn. Hope this helps.

[Tim Crosby]

  I have been using this method for years and it works great. You don't need to cut the base until you have it shaped. After cutting if it needs the thickness at the base trued up you can put it back on the jig. I never cut first.

  https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=30428.msg291359#msg291359

   Tim C.

[Tim Crosby]

Some extra Pix:

 You won't need this many but I usually start more than one horn at a time. Notice the tip of some are rounded off or pointed, that makes it fit in the horn a little better. You can cover the tip if you want but it isn't necessary.



 Here are a few examples:







 Jamming it it against the wall:




 There are a couple other methods that may be needed, it all depends on the horn itself but this will work on 99% of them.  Any questions just ask.

  Tim C.

[Cory Joe Stewart]

When I was in college I made dozens of horns just holding them on my thigh and scraping and shaping.  I would have to wait for breaks to go home and make base plugs.

Cory Joe

[Jeff Murray]

I have also found a sandbag helpful in securing a horn.  You can shape the sand bag to hold the horn in many different positions.

[Daryl]

Wow Tim - so simple, but ingenious.

[Top Jaw]

I don’t put them in a vice very often for most operations. Maybe cutting the tip off to start with. Otherwise I hold the horn in my left hand against a vertical support in my vice while I rotate it as I file. I find this much easier than constantly readjusting a horn that is pressed onto a leather wrapped stick.  I would use that stick in my vice while p supported the horn against it instead.