The horn is scraped to the desired, finished thickness and the tip area is shaped or tapered to fit an applied tip. At this point fit your bands, while the horn is still round. Rough fit raw, once you get them were you think they will fit them boil them until soft put them on a cone and turn them to shape, now try them on the round horn again. Adjust as necessary, may mean making another band or two, scraping the horn or rasping the inside of the band a bit, this may help. The final fit will come below.
Then it is heated, I still use boiling water but a lot of guys use hot oil. After the heat, in water an hour or so, it is put into the press. As the press is tightened the horn will begin to flatten out put a wedge in the center and a couple on either side, these two should have the edges on one side slightly rounded, wedges 1, 2, 3, 2 in the center. Have a couple of narrower wedges handy to tap in between 1 & 2 and 2 & 3 to help spread 1 & 3 into the corners. I have different size sets of wedges, 5/16, 3/8, ½, ¾ & 1”, depending on the size of horn. I have seen arched wedges used to fit curves, but have never had the need for them.
Crank the press down as tight as you can get it + a ¼ turn
let it sit a couple days. Once out you can flatten things out more if you want with a scraper. Cut a flat piece of wood the thickness of the horn, wrap a strip of leather around it and soak it, stick it inside to hold it, may take some playing around.
Even the base off and fit the plug, straight sides and about 10 degs on the ends. Rub a soft pencil around the inside of the horn press the plug in, take it out and remove the areas where the pencil marks transferred, until you reach the depth you want.
Now for the bands; they are boiled until soft and pressed down on the horn, they may stretch some and fit further down then they did when round. You can tap them a bit but be warned, must be done hot, fast and They may break, not all horn is equal so what works on one may not on another.
This is probably more than you wanted but it works for me and there are other ways, I hope it helps.
The Horners Hench has a tutorial, with pix, that will help you more I’m sure. Here's a link, I hope they don't mind.
http://thehornersbench.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=howto&action=display&thread=2688 Tim C.
