Horn nosecap from thick horn. (photos restored 2020)

[Acer Saccharum]

This horn was very thick, and suitable to make a nosecap from.


Fill the barrel channel so you don't crush the thin forestock wood while filing it down to accept the cap piece. The paper helps the separate the pine from the stock later on. Two or three thicknesses of paper would have been better than the one that I used. Just use Elmer's glue, or school glue. Don't use high strength glue because you want to peel this out later on.


File the stock to fit the lathe-bored horn. Try the fit, file until you like it.


Prep the horn for glueing in place. With the top of the horn cut away, it's easier to glue and clamp. I used accraglas epoxy, but I think hide glue would be better. It was for the Germans 200 yrs ago. Note: If you're staining your gun dark, color your glue to match your future gun color.



Before removing the pine support block, shape the horn on the muzzle end, and the top flat. This will allow you to drop the barrel in, and shape the outside of the nosecap.



Make some saw cuts in the pine support block. This will lower the cutting stresses on the thin forestock when you start peeling out the pine. The Japanese style pull-saw is a great tool for this, as you have terrific control, and it makes a very thin kerf.



Put the barrel back in, with a big sigh of relief, and start shaping the exterior of the nosecap.


Then, just before you finish the gun, inlay the gold at the muzzle, and heat blue the barrel.

[smart dog]

Nicely done Tom.  The trick of gluing the wood inside the barrel channel is a great idea even for forming a brass nosecap.

Thanks,

dave

[mill creek trading]

Thank you for a clear and concise explanation, along with excellent pictures, of something I have wanted to try for awhile now but wasn't quite comfortable with doing cold turkey.

[Acer Saccharum]

I did this tutorial before I'd known about heating horn in oil and forming it in a mould. So if your piece of horn has too big of a hole, it's a possibility that you can form the horn to a size that will work.

For jaegers, when a metal cap is used, traditionally the cap is SCREWED TO THE BARREL, and the wood slips underneath the metal cap.

[Jim Filipski]

I did this tutorial before I'd known about heating horn in oil and forming it in a mould. So if your piece of horn has too big of a hole, it's a possibility that you can form the horn to a size that will work.

For jaegers, when a metal cap is used, traditionally the cap is SCREWED TO THE BARREL, and the wood slips underneath the metal cap.

Tom,
Do you think there would be a problem with the glue adhesion if the horn were prepared in oil?
Jim

[Randy Hedden]

Tom,
Do you think there would be a problem with the glue adhesion if the horn were prepared in oil?
Jim

Jim,

Many horn builders boil horns in oil to round the end of the horn and then subsequently pin and glue the butt plug into the butt end of the horn. It appears that boiling the horn in oil has little effect later when the butt plug is glued.

Randy Hedden

[Acer Saccharum]

Thanks, Randy.

[Cory Joe Stewart]

Hello Acer,

Thanks for taking the time to post this.  I want to start my first build soon and since I am a hornmaker I wanted to do a horn nosecap.  I like the idea of shaping it from a solid piece.  Well done and thanks again, very helpful. 

Coryjoe