Powder horn art. A thing of beauty.

www.opensourcesurvival.com ^ | 07/11/2012 | Brother Rat

[Lowell1775]

I can’t resist, I have to show off my new 1750's powderhorn! I wanted a French and Indian war period horn for use with my Tulle, something that a militia ranger might have carried. I am blown away by what I have here.

This is my second horn from Vandalia Smoothbores, they only take custom orders one at a time.....I am extremely happy to have this horn, its exactly what I envisioned and the craftsmanship is unbelievable.

Pictures at....http://www.opensourcesurvival.com/?p=2441

[Lowell1775]

Wish I could figure out how to upload pictures here....but a quick link look is worth it to see a hand carved one of a kind powder horn. I visit Open Source all the time, but this powder horn post slipped by me until now.

I am not a rendezvouser, but when I travel, I always love seeing the personal carvings on horns in the war museums. Years ago there was one at Ticonderoga NY with lots of crosses and Bible quotes. Around the base plug was scribed something like...."As long as this horn has powder in it, I will bow to no king but God." The caption had a picture of the horn with the base plug pulled off....inscribed inside was a single word. Powder.

The old man had told his sons about it and when it was donated, the museum checked out the story.

That was a freeman who knew what freedom meant and a family that wanted his passion passed on.

[Rebelbase]

[mylife]

Why are there Palm trees on one side and map of Ohio/Pa on the other?

[mylife]

I grew up in the town where the first house in the Connecticut Western Reserve was built (It's still there)

I never saw any palm trees there ☺

[Inyo-Mono]

I too have a flintlock and several powder horns. Here's one of my French & Indian horns with a little Photoshop job on it

[Kimmers]

The one and only time I ever shot a flintlock I got a bullseye......doubt I could ever repeat that again.....

[elcid1970]

Scrimshawed powder horns are works of art. “Map” horns are my favorite.

The Collector’s Encyclopedia of the American Revolution contains photos of only those artifacts known to have existed in the Eighteenth Century. There are many powder horns shown and a common characteristic among them is the need to identify not only the owner, but his ownership.

For example, “JONATHAN FOSOM. HIS HORN.”

I did living history during the Bicentennial. Might try rendezvous’ing now in my later years.

[Lowell1775]

I thought they were scotch pines....palm trees only have fronds at the top....though now you mention it, they could be revetments guarding a militia air base.

So how do you post flipping pictures....is there a “Freeper how to” link anywhere?

[Sea Parrot]

This is my fusil de chasse, 20 balls to the pound, (.62 caliber) smoothbore, I made up about ten years ago. Horn is plain with no carving.

[mylife]

I thought they might be pines but the scrimshaw of the rivers seems too controlled for the trees to be done that rudimentarily.

To post pics, read here

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1011945/posts

[WVNan]

Aha, I see Fort Redstone on ye map there. That be where I met me ‘usband, Benjamin Ulen. ‘E be a wild frontiersman who was bent to ‘orse racing and losing ‘is fortunes. Aye, ‘e took a bit o tamein’, but after we wed, we lived with success in the new frontier of Virginny and Kantuck on the banks of the Ohio River. Aye, tis this woman who tells of their adventures at the Ulen cabin at Wolfpen Woods in Kantuck. (google it)

I see a lot of this horn work at the “gatherings”. Beautiful.

[WVNan]

Oops, I now see that the picture was posted by someone else. Sorry bout that.

[Inyo-Mono]

Beautiful work! I have always wanted a French smoothbore. Mine is a copy of a 1790s Rupp style Pennsylvania rifle, .50 cal with a 46 inch swamped Getz barrel.

[MileHi]

I was going to ping you, but you found this.

Where did the parts, barrel, lock, stock, come from to build your rifle?

[Graewoulf]

Thanks for this post.

[S.O.S121.500]

Pow er PING

[Verginius Rufus]

The Wall Street Journal for July 3, 2012, had a story (beginning on page 1) about a powder horn from 1776 which may have the earliest representation of the stars and stripes.

[Sea Parrot]

Barrel is 46" Getz, R.E. Davis lock, IIRC, wood was from Muzzleloader Builder's Supply. Iron furniture from various sources. I used to do a bit of ML stocking. Percussion pistol built for youngest daughter. A plain Jane LH lock .54 hunting rifle in Lancaster style.

[MileHi]

Very nice looking rifle.

I would like to get a pistol like that to compliment my Hawkin copy.

[Sea Parrot]

Thank you. As a rule, Getz barrels are top of the line, but then so are Chambers' barrels and locks. .50 is a good all around caliber suitable for most all North American big game. A 180 grain balls and stiff load in the .46" barrel allows for high BP velocity. Back in the 70's and 80's most all my hunting was done with .57 percusion Hawken. Even with 12.5 pound weight of the rifle, it could still knocked me silly with stiff loads. Never noticed recoil when firing on game, but when emptying rifle by shooting, ugh.