Leather Wrapped Horns?

[RoaringBull]

I was looking at the pics on the blog and found the one of the old leather wrapped horn?  Was that very common and is that two pieces of leather?

Hay I may be able to do a horn like that!?!

[Mark Elliott]

Those were done to repair a horn with a hole worn in it or a crack.    The originals that I have seen were wrapped in one pieces of leather stretched very tight around the horn.   There was one line of stitching.   I have only seen very thin hides applied and they must have been applied wet.  

As to how common they are, I have seen them often enough.   As to a percentage, someone else will have to answer that.   

Mark E.

[LRB]

   That on an old horn is to repair a crack. On recent horns, it is usually a faux repair, or sometimes, still a real repair in order to still be able to sell it, and have it look correct as a repaired old horn. Oh yeah, usually doe skin rawhide, stitched wet.

[Tim Crosby]

 Here's a couple. (These are originals) Done for repair I'm sure, Somewhere I saw one that had a squirrel skin complete with ears on it.

 Tim C.

[RoaringBull]

Question is which end of the squirrel was the stopper stuck into???

[skillman]

Tim
I think the horn with the squirel skin patch is in Powder Horns and their Architecture by Grant.  Now that would be a neat horn to duplicate.  Unless your a squirel.
Steve

[longhunter1757]

Question is which end of the squirrel was the stopper stuck into???

You owe me a new keyboard!

[RoaringBull]

Question is which end of the squirrel was the stopper stuck into???

You owe me a new keyboard!

heheheheheheheheheheheheheh....

[Chuck Burrows]

IMO deer or elk rawhide works even better than leather and was fairly common fixit especially in the West. Rawhide will work fine even in areas where it's wetter/more humid if it's sealed with varnish.
As noted it's done with one piece of hide normally - I like to use the so-called baseball stitch which is PC - the rawhide wrapped Mariano Modena/Medina horn was sewn thusly.
I've done several over the years - here's one from a few years ago - it was actually to repair the horn where it had been scraped/sanded through, making a couple of nice holes. You can see the stitching along the top - my preferred method, but some folks like the seam along the bottom.

[RoaringBull]

Do you cut the leather a little small while dry, then wet it and sew it real snug while wet and let it dry to get that tight form fitted look? 

[Chuck Burrows]

With the rawhide I cut a little large, wet it to the correct temper, and then use a couple of spots of glue (traditionally hot hide glue or you can "cheat" and use Super Glue-the gel works best) to hold it in place and then trim as I go along - once it dries it will draw up drum tight.