How hot should the oil be to soften a horn?

[Rolf]

The object is to get horn as hot as possible, all the way through without scorching it.

In Scott & Cathy Sibely's book "Recreating the 18Th century powder horn", the recommend heating the oil to 350⁰f and immersing the horn for only  5-7 second. If left longer, it gets scorched. It stands to reason that the horn never gets as hot as the oil.

Has anyone tried soaking a horn at say 250⁰f for 10 minutes? A longer soaking time might make it softer and easier to shape.

Best regards
Rolfkt

[wpalongrifle]

Rolfkt, I use a frydaddy cooker..set at 325 degrees..i also use a thermometer just in case. the wall thickness dictates the amount of time in the oil. i also use the oven glove to hold and test horn flexability. one thing to remember is drill the spout hole before cooking to allow steam and heat to escape. if too thin, yes it will burn, but i usually form my horns in the raw and than scrape down to the even wall thickness. this also reduces the chance of splitting the horn with the forming cone..mike

[Tim Crosby]

 Oil is the choice of many but I use only water. The main reason being, I get the results I want. The others are it is cleaner, easy to work with and you do not have to worry about scorching, unless of course you let the H2O boil out, like somebody I know did once

 Tim C.

[Larry Pletcher]

I use a fry daddy too.  325 sounds about right.  One trick Art taught us is to tap the horn on the side as you heat it.  --  Listen to it before heating and you get a clank.  Heat a few seconds and tap it again.  When the horn is ready the sound changes to a dull thunk.  The sound probably varies, but the change is unmistakable.  In class I heated  and tapped  maybe three times before hearing the sound change - depends on how long you have it in the heat.  The nice thing is that with Art's method you're checking it often enough to prevent getting it too crisp.

Regards,
Pletch

[Cory Joe Stewart]

I'm with Tim, I always just use water and if not too much work is needed I use dry heat.  Having hot oil around makes me nervous and I get hurt enough as it is. Anyway, as has been pointed out the Sibley book lays out instructions very well.

Coryjoe

[skillman]

Rolfkt

I agree with the 325 temp. I usually watch for very small bubbles to start coming up. I use the oil to get the horn to the plastic state. At this temp. the horn will stay in the shape you make it. This is really helpful on flat horns.
Steve