Buying horns...

[astrix]

Howdy all.Just wondering where is the best place to buy raw horns for
making powder horns,etc.
Thanks,
Gary

[J Henry]

  Powder horns and More.

[astrix]

Thank you.
Gary

[retired fella]

You might try a local slaughter house.  I've not done it so you will be starting from ground zero (boiling and scraping) but has got to be cheap.

[Tim Crosby]

 The best place is where you find good horns cheap. Try flea markets, antique stores that have individual booths. Look for old double mounted horns that were done for display or coat racks.
 Just missed a few nice ones in the Classifieds and you could put a wanted add in there. There are a few places around but unless you know the seller and they know what you are looking for you are best off picking your own out of a pile at a show like Dixons.

  Good Luck, Tim C.   

[Dan Herda]

Another option, shopgoodwill dot com except shipping sometimes is high,but they do have big turnover and it is nation wide. Fleamarkets were great in Texas.

[J Henry]

  Try this site,,   www.powderhornsandmore.com   you can look at the horns on line and buy the one you want,owner is horn smart.

[rogerpjr]

Whatever happened to all the beautiful WHITE horns we used to get back in the late 70s? They had very thick white layer over most of the horn. Even the nicest horns from Powder Horns and More don't come close in comparison. I still have one I've been saving cause I can't bear to use it.

[JPK]

Crazycrow.com has horns of various sizes and color. Polished and not.

[axelp]

I have gone the slaughterhouse route and you can get horns for cheap ($3) but you have to sort thru a lot.... and the muss and fuss of cleaning and de-coring can be miserable--especially for the wife and kids.

[Horner75]

I think that all of the horns we see by the suppliers are imported from Mexico, South America and the junk one's from the East Indies.  Scrimshaw Quality is rare anymore it seems unless you travel a thousand miles or more to hand pick them.

Rick

[ricktull]

the good horns come from England and not imported anymore

[rogerpjr]

I heard somewhere that the really good horns we used to get came from Guernsey cows but they aren't as popular and most are now polled early to prevent injury to the cows and farmer. Don't know if that is true or not but it seems plausible. Wish I could get this danged time machine working!

[KC]

You could try Village Restorations & Consulting, Inc.? (www.villagerestorations.com). I've never bought anything from them, but they advertise that they have horns and their site says they're $15/ea. or 2/$25. They might not be premium scrimshaw horns with a perfect twist, but worth a look.

Also, I just ordered a couple from The Gun Works Muzzleloading Emporium (www.thegunworks.com). They've got all grades of horns, polished and unpolished. Their prices seem pretty reasonable too. I should get mine in a day or so, so I'll find out how good they really are. In any event, they seemed like really nice people to deal with.

[Horner75]

Any Horn maker who has watched the John Wayne movie, "Red River" see's what type of cattle good horns come from.  I can't watch that movie without dooling!

Rick

[bigsmoke]

Unless the cow is a "Meadow Ornament" you are not going to see a lot of domestic horns anymore.  As was said, they are dehorned to safeguard the cows from each other.
IN 2001, we had the great hoof in mouth problem that caused many, many cows to be slaughtered and burned/buried.  Such a shame.
As Rick mentioned, most all horns available now in commercial quantities are from Mexico, South America, Africa or India.  Of these, the South American ones are the best.
In these days of constant unrest, it has become more and more difficult to even import horns in quantity.  The USDA which has to inspect and approve the shipment is now under the Department of Homeland Security.  And those people are next to impossible to deal with.  Anyone who is importing quantities of horns (and I only really know of two or three) have to be either very dedicated or stone crazy.  Been there, done that, and I probably qualify on both accounts.
John