Was at my buddy Bill Smith's last week,..we were working on some horns and I took a few pics. First few are myself roughing out the horn plugs on the router. They then go to Bill for final hand fitting,...edges are rounded out by hand with German files (only the good stuff works ),...so that the 1/4 plug I have roughed out fits down in the horn. 

 

Next few are some on the stand that have been glued with the wooden dowels inserted and glued,..then sanded down on a sander to conform to the shape of the horn....everything toward the end of the process is all hand sanded,...you can make some bad boo boo's pretty quick with the power tools 

 

We always shoot for quality curly maple grain to show,,...every now and then a little spalted shines through,...I like that too 

 

 

Then there is 3 flatties there that Bill has done some throat work on,...it's roughed in pretty nice with the files,...but a ton of hand sanding will be done to finish. All the throat work is 100% done by hand.  

 

The hole you see in the one by my thumb is a mistake,...file went through the spot that is drilled out for the powder,...it happens,...not often but it happens. We try to leave as much curve as possible in the throat for aesthetics,..it adds to the quality of the horn...but when doing so and then having to drill through that,..you sometimes get close to the wall of the horn with the bit,...no problem...but when you start to do some throat work on that horn,..well sometimes you go on through......if that makes sense. 

 

Last is a pile of bags Bill has gotten done....scouts,..beaver tails,..haversacks,..Tennessee's.....quality heavy duty leather on the outside,...deer leather lined on the inside,...hand forged buckles,....double stitched all the way (Bill is the only one I know that does this,...it's a big quality point)....most of them loaded with pockets. It's all hand done,...NO Machines.  Some sort of mult-ply Irish waxed thread is used as well,...it's tough stuff I say 

 

Just sharing some pics at my only hang out joint,...it's the only one I need  

One thing I was gonna add,.......the bell of the horn has to be perfectly flat on the end to meet up with the plug,..which is square. We do this by dragging it across a big sanding disc in our lap after we rough cut on a ban saw. We check the "flatness" by putting it on the side of a large table saw blade. This is important to get that quality fit between the horn and plug,...looks tight because it is,...when we fitt'em up with glue we always shoot for a good squeeze out on the glue also or it doesn't pass....have to have it. If not then recheck fit and if need be ad more glue. If you look at that line on Bills horn's it really looks machine done,....you couldn't slide a razor in it,,..but it isn't...it''s all completed by hand.

That is some amazingly detailed work.  Thanks for sharing I enjoyed.  

Outstanding! Thanks, Aaron and Bill. Beautiful work.

Awesome work.  I am wondering about the horn hole, can you take some of the dust and mix with some glue and fill the hole with the mixture?  That's how I do wood when I make a mistake, I will take some of the sanding dust and mix it with glue, push it into the stop and let it dry so it can be sanded without obvious notice.  

1 minute ago, FlGatorwood said:

Awesome work.  I am wondering about the horn hole, can you take some of the dust and mix with some glue and fill the hole with the mixture?  That's how I do wood when I make a mistake, I will take some of the sanding dust and mix it with glue, push it into the stop and let it dry so it can be sanded without obvious notice.  

Yep,...could I fix it so no one could see it??,...you betcha....but Bill would never pass it..if it was never to be used perhaps. But some of these horns actually have a very rigorous life after they leave Bills shop. They are A-1 no usable flaw or they don't go .

 

 

Gotta figure too,....they hold black powder....so you know....camp fires and such 

13 minutes ago, aaronc said:

they hold black powder.

Mine is just cool to look at....  

 

1 minute ago, Gunny said:

Mine is just cool to look at....  

 

 

Yesireee  

Thanks for the ride along Aaron

Was back at Bill's shop yesterday for some horn work,...some of the previously in process pieces are completed and here is a few pics.  - Aaron 

 

 

More beautiful work. Just awesome!

Love these!!

Beautiful work!  Those horns are gorgeous!

1 hour ago, Thad said:

Beautiful work!  Those horns are gorgeous!

Thank you,..I can make my way around a powder horn pretty well.....But them are some Bill Smith horns...I was just the helper. Whatever I do know about it came from him