Author Topic: Little bison horn  (Read 1287 times)

Offline coopersdad

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Little bison horn
« on: October 20, 2022, 10:26:15 PM »
 A friend gave me a small bison horn, and it had a nice curve and twist, more cow-like than bison, so I thought I'd try it.  I'd heard smoothing a rough bison horn was a lot of work, and I heard right.  There were a lot of overlapping "plates" of material, and I was always uncovering another edge.  Finally quit when it was mostly smooth, think I may have run out of horn before I got them all!    It's about 11" along the curve and holds a bit under 1/4 pound of powder.  The plug, pins and stopper are cherry. 







Mike Westcott

Offline MeliusCreekTrapper

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Re: Little bison horn
« Reply #1 on: October 20, 2022, 10:31:38 PM »
That's a beautiful horn. Amazing twist for a bison horn. I'd be proud to carry that one.

Great work.

Offline Jeff Murray

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Re: Little bison horn
« Reply #2 on: October 20, 2022, 10:35:58 PM »
Nice lookiing horn.  I am finishing another bison horn also.  Usually about halfway to smoothing the horn you wonder if it is worth the trouble.  Most cow horns are way easier to work down.

Offline Flintandsmoke

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Re: Little bison horn
« Reply #3 on: October 20, 2022, 11:00:43 PM »
That is a beautiful little horn

Offline coopersdad

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Re: Little bison horn
« Reply #4 on: October 21, 2022, 12:17:15 AM »
Thanks, it was a fun project.  I did say "to heck with it - it ain't never getting smooth" several times, but it finally did! 
Mike Westcott

Offline Tim Crosby

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Re: Little bison horn
« Reply #5 on: October 21, 2022, 12:30:09 AM »
 Nicely done, one thing I would think about is the twisted staple in the butt or anyplace else on a horn. From the critique sheet from one I entered at "Dixons" years ago: ""Twisted staples do not add anything significant and can cause undue strap wear". Last twisted staple I made. Nice looking horn though.

   Tim C.

Offline coopersdad

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Re: Little bison horn
« Reply #6 on: October 21, 2022, 01:56:26 AM »
That makes perfect sense.  Looks cool now, will be covered as soon as the strap is attached, and act like a rasp on it.
Mike Westcott

Offline MeliusCreekTrapper

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Re: Little bison horn
« Reply #7 on: October 21, 2022, 03:08:01 AM »
Agree on the staple. I have my first horn with a twisted staple doing that exact thing, sawing its way through the strap. It will be replaced with a round staple.

Offline alyce-james

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Re: Little bison horn
« Reply #8 on: October 21, 2022, 11:40:05 PM »
Gentleman: Good day. Isn't the fiscal material in a Bison horn different than that of a cow horn ? Thus difficult to polish a Bison Horn. When you have a chance compare the inside of the two, Bison/cow. With extra elbow grease the Bison will finish well. AJ.

"Candy is Dandy but Liquor is Quicker". by Poet Ogden Nash 1931.

Offline bigsmoke

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Re: Little bison horn
« Reply #9 on: October 28, 2022, 11:40:38 PM »
It just takes a little time and patience to get a smooth finish on a buff horn




I probably made this one 25 years ago.

John (Bigsmoke)

Offline Bull Shannon

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Re: Little bison horn
« Reply #10 on: October 29, 2022, 12:07:59 PM »
Bison is a pain to work smooth but worth is in the end.
You can't kill a man who is born to hang!