I needed a powder horn. I did not know how they were made, & all the tools I had was a drill, a hacksaw and a round metal file. Plus of course my knives. I drilled the spout of the horn after cutting the tip of the horn off. I carved a wooden plug for the spout. I filed a groove round the spout for a leather tie, then I devised a bound leather covering for the butt end of the horn and waxed it.
It served me well for a long time, years. Until I finally found out how they were originally made with a wood base plug. Then I made a new one.
It never did leak and is still the same as the day it was made.
This is the third horn I made. I would like to take some images of my second powder horn, but there is a bee hive right on top of it in my old workshop! The bees gather all around me when I go into the workshop but have never stung me to date, but I think that if I tried to extract my powder horns from under their hive, they are likely to attack.
NEVER glue the base plug in, only secure with small metal or wooden pins, & seal with beeswax. The base plug is the safety valve. IF the horn was to explode, most of the force would be dissapated by blowing out the base plug. My old leather covered horn is prbably even safer!
2 comments:
I've seen all sorts of things used for powder containers, your leather horn base is just fine!
Thank you Gorges.
Keith.
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