Tips on applied horn tips

[BobT]

Hello All,

My first post on the new forum, actually I have been away from the old forum for a while too.

I'm looking for tips on making and installing an applied tip to a horn I'm working on. I was drilling the spout this morning and heard a sickening crunch as my drill broke through the side of the horn. Not the first time I've done this but this one is too nice to let the dogs chew on. I have a piece of walnut for the tip roughed out on the lathe but I decided to stop and seek expert advice before going any farther. Thanks in advance!

Bob

[Tim Crosby]

 Without a pic it is had to tell where you are.  It probably can be salvaged.

Tim C.

[BobT]

Tim,
I don't know why I didn't put the pictures in my first post, I guess I was pretty upset with myself, I have been looking at this horn for months trying to decide exactly how I wanted to decorate it.  The few horns I have made before this were plain. The hole is about 5/32" diameter and about 2" behind the tip. I should have taken the tip down a little more probably but I wanted to leave as much as I could for carving.





If anyone has any suggestions I would appreciate it.

Thanks !

Bob

[Beaverman]

you may be able to put an applied ring of horn around that spot too, similar to the ones on southen banded horns. did the same thing last year to a nice horn. wound up trashing it cause i dont have the means to turn a tip and couldnt find anyone to do one for me.

 Next time, give me a call Jason, will be happy to turn a tip for you!

[Tim Crosby]

You could file a wide grove, 1/4 to 3/8" or so, around the horn and inlet a piece of copper to cover the hole and redrill the other hole. I have tried to fill the hole with a dowel or epoxy and re drill it but the bit just follows the path of least resistance. Another option would be to cut the horn off at the drill-out and turn a long applied tip. I have attached a picture of a drill-out that I fixed that way. The tip starts just to the left above the 2 on the ruler. It fits down into the horn rather than around it. Hope it helps.

Tim C.

[davec2]

Tim's comment about the copper band is right on the mark.  When I was making the horn below, I also left a long solid section at the tip to facilitate carving.  Like you, I managed to drill through the side of the horn and didn't want to loose it.  The forward band on this horn is made of sterling silver and is mounted down in a groove filed around the horn.  It is split at the top and is held together by the toggle ring screw.  It hides the hole (patched with epoxy for the sake of water tight integrity) and came out better than if I had planned it that way.

[Sam Everly]

You need to find a drill bit that drills a curve . I know they make them L.C. Rice showed me a barrel blank that had the hole curve 1/4 inch off center then went back to center on the end . When looking thru the barrel it looked like a quarter moon of light at the end ! He had it around for a while to show people how good he was !!!! HAHAHA. He had tryed a new style drill, well it did not work needless to say . Man they spent alot of money trying to make a better barrel , which in the long run they. did.     

[Larry Pletcher]

You could file a wide grove, 1/4 to 38" or so, around the horn and inlet a piece of copper to cover the hole and redrill the other hole. I have tried to fill the hole with a dowel or epoxy and re drill it but the bit just follows the path of least resistance. . . . . . . . Hope it helps.

Tim C.

Hi Tim,
I had the same kind of mistake where I drilled through the side with a 1/4" bit.  I filled the opening with epoxy and tried to redrill.  I was afraid that I would end up following the same hole so I changed to a 1/4" forstner bit.  It had a smaller shank than the other one and cut more at th edge of the bit.   I managed to shift the bit the amount that the smaller shank allowed.  By the time I was in 2" or so, the bit moved the width of the hole.  I lucked out and hit the horn cavity.   I don't know if I could do it twice.

[BobT]

Thank You Gentlemen!

I had hoped I would find some solutions. I did manage to get a hole through to the cavity after I went through the side so I think I should be OK there. I don't know if I have enough thickness under the breakout to file much of a groove but if that fails I can still go the applied tip route.

Tim and Dave,
If I can even come close to what you have created I will be one happy feller! Thanks for sharing the photos.

Bob

[Top Jaw]

On my first drill out (hopefully my last for a while), it was also a nice horn worth saving.  The applied collar and tip is a good idea.  But here is what I did, (as I am not a big fan of the collar).

I still had about 1/2"+ above the start of the inner cavity where it went out the side.  To conserve as much length as  possible, I filled the hole with epoxy, let it dry, and then starting at the filled hole, I filed down a shaft and cut some male threads for use as a York County screw tip horn.  I was able to preserve as much length as possible by incorporating the epoxy-filled area into the threads, which also helped hide the repair.  (Looks kind of like a blood spot in the threads, and none of it shows if the tip is screwed on).  I think if I ever had to do it again, I would use some horn dust in the epoxy to blend it better.  You may be able to do something similar with your horn, if you did not want to go the collar and tip route.

Top Jaw