Powder horn

“ Varnish the rough part of the horns and let them dry; then take some chenille or tinsel cord to trim around the butt of the horns and around the 110back part or edge of the skull board. Tack it on with upholstering tacks. Cow horns and sheep horns are mounted in the same manner. The sheep horns should be cleaned with the lye, as directed for the deer horns, but no scraping or polishing is necessary; they look better rough. The cow horns should be polished, as directed on page 102, before they are put on the board. No polished horn should be varnished. ”

“ In order to render the horn soft enough to cut, it must be soaked in boiling water. While still soft, a groove can be cut on the inside about a quarter or half an inch from the bottom. Into this fit a circular piece of metal or horn. A little ingenuity will enable one to fit on brass mountings at top and bottom. These mountings can be rendered still further ornamental by either chasing or repoussée work. In their original shape or slightly flattened horns, can be ornamented in various ways, and utilized for holding flowers, grasses, or made into bonbonnières, or simply hang up as ornaments. ”

“ The touching-pieces (tousches) or proofs (espreuves) employed for the purpose, and considered especially efficacious against poison, were toadstones, glossopetræ, serpentine, jasper, agate and particularly the unicorn's horn. What was foisted upon the credulous public as the horn of the fabled animal was in reality the horn or tusk of a fish—the narwhal or sea-unicorn of the northern seas. Being an object of very great value, the horn was only occasionally kept entire, like the one preserved to this day at New College, Oxford. ”

“ Be careful when working to the largest part, or base of the horn, not to run your tool through, as it is much thinner there than at the tips.
Whilst thinning rough places in certain horns you will find a half round and flat fine rasp of great assistance. When you have obtained a nice even surface all over, use glass paper of different degrees of fineness, and pumice-stone. Collect the dust which falls off, with a rag dipped in linseed oil and well rub the horn with this. ”

“ Cattle horns should have the piece of bone connecting them screwed to a long oval block, then treated similarly. Horns of sheep, cattle and goats frequently come loose from the bony core. A little plaster mixed very thin and poured inside the horn just before replacing them will fasten them on again.
Do not try to polish, paint, gild or otherwise improve the natural appearance of deer antlers. Wash and clean them well and rub in a little linseed oil. Polishing brings out the beauty of horns of cattle and bison, if the operator is lavish of elbow grease. ”

“ A great many useful articles are made from the solid or tip portion of horns, a great many useful and very beautiful articles, some of which are turned by the lathe, while others are cut. Whip-handles, stick and umbrella handles, and handles for knives and small tools, may be made from horn and afterwards scraped and polished. Goats’ and sheep’s horns are clearer and more transparent than those of the ox. ”

“ Horns form a considerable article in the arts and manufactures. Those of bullocks, when softened by heat, are converted into lanthorns, combs, knives, inkhorns, &c. After the horn is roasted over a fire made of the stalks of furze, so as to render it sufficiently soft, it is slit on one side, and spread out between a pair of flat tongs, large enough to keep it expanded a second time over the fire, and reduce it to a flat state ”

“ The hunting- and post-horns were favourite emblems on medieval coats of arms, more especially in Germany33 and Bohemia.
It is necessary at this point to draw attention to the fact that the French horn is a hybrid having affinities with both trumpet and primitive animal horn, or with buccina and cornu, and that both types, although frequently misnamed and confused by medieval writers and miniaturists, subsisted side by side, evolving independently until they merged in the so-called French horn. ”

“ The distal end of a cow's horn, of which the tip has been removed, and plugged with wax, does duty for the cup. A hole is pierced through the wax with an iron needle, and, the horn being placed over the seat of disease, the air is withdrawn from it by suction with the mouth, and the hole in the wax stopped up. As the air is removed from the cavity of the horn, the skin rises up within it. To remove the horn, it is only necessary to readmit air by once more boring a hole through the wax. ”

“ They first soften the horn and shell in boiling water, so as to be able to submit them to the press in iron moulds, and by means of heat form them into one mass. The degree of heat necessary to join the horn clippings must be stronger than that for shell skins, and it can only be found out by experience. The heat must not however be too great, for fear of scorching the horn or shell. Considerable care is required in these operations, not to touch the horn with the fingers, nor with any greasy body, because the grease will prevent the perfect joining. ”

“ If a corn be slight all that is necessary is to take off the pressure of the shoe, and this is assisted by removing a thin slice or two of horn at the part. When the injury is very great matter may be formed under the horn, and of course must be let out by removal of the horn over it. Provided there is no reason to believe that matter has formed, a corn, i.e., the bruised and discoloured horn, should not be dug out in the ruthless manner so commonly adopted. Cutting away all the horn of the sole at the heels leaves the wall without any support. ”

“ The Inventionshorn, although embodying an important principle which has also found its application in all brass wind instruments with valves as a means of correcting defective intonation, did not add to the compass of the horn. At some date before 1762 it would seem that Hampel [72] also discovered the principle on which hand-stopping is founded.
By hand-stopping (Fr. sons bouchés, Ger. gestöpfte Töne) is understood the practice of inserting the hand with palm outstretched and fingers drawn together, forming a long, shallow cup, into the bell of the horn ”

“ Yes, Paul; all kinds of horns are used, though some are much tougher and better than others. The 57 cattle raised in the Eastern, Middle and Western States furnish the best horns, and there is the curious difference that the horns of six cows are worth no more than those of a single ox. Many millions of horn combs are made every year in Massachusetts ”

“ Again, holdfasts and clamps may be employed, but the utmost care should be taken lest these slip away whenever too great pressure is brought to bear on them. A very good means to keep the horn firm is to have a piece of wood fast to the table in which there is a hole, into which the lesser end of the horn fits, while the butt rests, and is fixed, on the table. Having secured it, outline the pattern with a V tool or very small graining-gouge, and then cut away the ground with quarter-flat, and finally with flat gouges. ”

“ Soft horn differs from hard horn in that its horn-cells never become hard and horn-like. It is very elastic, absorbs water quickly, and as readily dries out and becomes very hard and brittle and easily fissured and chapped. ”

“ The horn is also said to be made out of the molar tooth of a dog or jackal, introduced through a small hole in a piece of jackal’s skin, round which a little blood or turmeric paste is smeared, to make it look more natural. In most cases only the horn, with a small piece of skull and skin, is sold. Sometimes, instead of the skin from the part where the horn is made, a piece of skin is taken from the snout, where the long black hairs are. ”

“ These plates of horn may be colored; and there are a great many 64 ‘tortoise-shell’ combs and other goods sold which are only horn with a bit of color sprinkled upon it.
“The solid tips of the horns, and all the pieces that are worth anything cut off in making the combs, are made up into horn jewelry, chains, cigar-holders, knife-handles, buttons, and toys of various kinds. These trinkets are generally colored more or less, and many a fashionable belle, I suppose, would be surprised to know the amount of money paid for odd bits of horn under higher sounding names. ”

“ Among household curios are drinking horns elaborately etched, and frequently turned in a lathe. They were popular in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, and the turned patterns then so common were copied by the silversmiths, who made silver tankards and drinking cups on the same models. The cornucopia or horn of abundance figures frequently in sculpture, paintings, and works of art. The horn is one of the early instruments of music (see Chapter XV) , and has long been associated with sports. ”

“ Art in horn work was practised more a century ago than it is to-day, the material being then a favourite one for drinking cups and a variety of ornamental work. Old snuff boxes were frequently made of horn impressed or stamped with beautiful designs, such as hunting scenes and mythological figures. Horn can either be cut, moulded, or turned, its natural elasticity making it very durable and difficult to break. ”

“ The common characteristics which link together these widely different modern families of instruments are: (1) the more or less pronounced conical bore, and (2) the property possessed in a greater or lesser degree of producing the natural sounds by what has been termed overblowing the harmonic overtones. If we follow the evolution of the animal horn throughout the centuries, the ultimate development leads us not to the French horn but to the bugle and tuba. ”

“ These differences in structure and properties were thus indicated by Sir R. Owen:—“The weapons to which the term horn is properly or technically applied consist of very different substances, and belong to two organic systems, as distinct from each other as both are from the teeth. ”

“ The Horn and Cornett.
The horn takes its name from the cow’s horn, out of which the instrument was made. The resemblance includes the tapering bore of this instrument, and also the fact that it is curved. [90] In the metal p. 91instruments, made in imitation of the natural horn, we find a curvature of about a semi-circle, as in the seventeenth century hunting horn (Galpin, p. 188) . While in the horn of the early seventeenth century shown on the same plate, the tube is curved into many circular coils. ”

“ Great care must be taken and the knife used very cautiously when you are cutting through the different parts close to where the bill joins on to the head: if you cut away too much the bill drops off; if you press too hard the knife comes through the horn; if you leave too great a portion of the membrane it appears through the horn and, by becoming black when dried, makes the horn appear black also, and has a bad effect. Judgment, caution, skill and practice will ensure success. ”

“ A second horn on the other side of the jaw is not uncommon, but it is always shorter, and is often malformed or rudimentary. The horns vary in length up to eight feet, and are composed of a very fine quality of ivory. ”

“ The section of a horn represents more an oval than a cylinder. The general colour of the horns is of a semi-transparent green, except the tips, which are jet black for about six inches, and the bases, which are very rough, irregular, gnarled, ringed, and rugged, and also black in colour. The horns gradually taper to a very sharp point ”

“ The word “horn” when used by modern English musicians always refers to the French horn.
Modern horns may be divided into three classes: (1) the short horns with wide bore, such as the bugles (q.v.) and the post-horn. (2) The saxhorns (q.v.) , a family of hybrid instruments designed by Adolphe Sax, and resulting from the adaptation of valves and of a cup-shaped mouthpiece to instruments of the calibre of the bugle. The Flügelhorn family is the German equivalent of the saxhorns. The natural scale of instruments of this class comprises the harmonics from the second to the eighth only. ”

“ If the thong and leather stopper are made to fit the horn tightly, the dry baked rags, the charred cotton, or whatever substance you use for punk, when placed in the horn will be perfectly protected from moisture or dampness. ”

“ The centre space of the floor, about thirty-six feet square, was sunk four feet to allow water from the canal to pass around the bottoms of two of the large evaporating pans, which were placed therein near the centre of this area, and nine feet apart; these were used for a special purpose.
The best quality of gunpowder can only be made from the purest [p13] saltpetre; the impurities of the crude material are mainly deliquescent salts, which rapidly deteriorate the strength of the powder by the moisture absorbed. ”

“ The size of the grain depends altogether on the sieve. Hence we have cannon-powder, gunning or musket-powder, pistol-powder, and mining-powder. Superfine powder is the very small grained.
3. Glazing. (Lissage Fr.) This operation takes off the asperities of the grain, renders it hard and less liable to soil the hands, and gives it a kind of lustre. It is only used for fine powder, such as the pistol, and hunting-powder. Cannon powder is never glazed. It is performed in a barrel-shaped vessel, which is made to revolve on its axis, like the ordinary barrel-churn. ”

“ The horns are lagest at their base, and occupy the crown of the head almost entirely. they are compressed, bent backwards and lunated; the surface swelling into wavy rings which incircleing the horn continue to succeed each other from the base to the extremity and becoming less elivated and more distant as they recede from the head. ”