Project time, The making of a cow horn howler, questions, questions, questions?

M

Michael J. McCasland

New member
A while ago I came across a dead cow that donated her horns the a howler project. They are about the right size, they need to be cleaned, they need to be shinned up and mostly I need to find a voice.

So tell me how you'd go about making a cow horn howler?

Rich in Az - I was very impressed with your howler, where did you get the voice?

Michael
 
Michael,
If your horns still have the core or "Marrow" inside, the best way to get it out is to boil the horns until when you grab one with channel lock pliers, the horn feels a bit soft. At that point you pull it out of the water with the pliers, grab the horn near the point with a gloved hand and smack the horn a few times against a tree or something. The core will fall out, leaving a white colored membrane inside the horn which is easily scraped out while the substance is still wet. I will add more for you on this subject a bit later.
 
After the horn has dried, it will still look pretty scaly and ugly. A belt sander is a good way to sand most of this scale off. Before I got my hands on a bench type belt sander, I used an angle grinder with about 100 grit sandpaper to rough sand the horn. A sharp knife or even a piece of broken glass can be used to scrape the sander marks off. For a shiny "finished" look, you can polish the horn with a wool buffing wheel and Jewlers rouge. I usually use the black rouge because it takes the scratches out that I missed while scraping.
 
One good easy way to make a "voice" for your howler is to drill the cow horn the correct size to fit a Crit'r call "standard" predator call in there. The .015" mylar reed which comes with a crit'r call will work, but I prefer a little wider reed for serious howling. Mr. Boddicker sells reed material too. I havn't bought any from him for many years, but last time that I did there was a fair size piece of .015" mylar included in the package.

For those who like the Austin calls, you could just drill your horn to accept the Austin call. Same goes for other open reed calls too. A Lohman #280 could easily be modified to make good howler voice.
 
OK,
From what I have told you so far, you can see that it is really no big secret to making a howler that will get the job done. A call that you make yourself is always a special thing.

A rather thin walled cow horn that is still about 8-10 inches long after you cut it and have it drilled for the voice usually makes for a really nice sounding howler with plenty of volume.
 
Rich you are really comming through. The horns that I have are fairly long but a little thin (in diameter). I've been thinking about using a home made version of a Bill Austin female howler or modifying a Talley-ho. I think that I'll give the Talley-ho a go first. What do you think. I'd like to add some drop and shorten the mouth piece part some, then find a different reed material, I will probably work with a song-dog reed at least at first.

What type of glue would you suggest for the mouth piece? Also your howlers appear to be painted (maybe not) with a clear paint. What type of paint would you suggest.

By the way these horns were ready to slip off when I pulled them from the cow. Whewww, stink. I thought that I'd boil them and use peroxcide on them, maybe some chlorox, would this harm them in any way? Right now the thought of them anywhere my mouth is not appealing at all. Are the horns harmed in any way when you get them like this?

Michael
 
Michael,
When I make the voice from natural cow horn (which I now do quite often) I seal the voice inside and out with Rustoleum "Hardhat" clear coat. I buy it in the small spray can. It also works well for the calls that I pencil my signature on the horn. Two or three coats of Hardhat over the signature protects it from getting rubbed off.

The Tally Ho will make a good voice for you if the reed bridge is filed or sanded to a more steep slope. The original reed will work, but I prefer the .015" mylar because it seems to hold it's straightness longer than other material I have tried. I like to cut the reed so that it just barely covers the air groove out at the tip.

I use a two part epoxy for gluing the mouthpiece into the horn. I am having good luck with the Loctite brand right now. To get rid of that rotten odor, try washing the horn in clorox bleach mixture and then let it dry real well. If you leave it in the bleach overnight it may bleach too much natural color out of your horn.
 
Michael,
Your idea of using home made version of a small Austin type call is also good. I have one of those laying right here in front of me as we speak. I like to bend the mylar reed into a 90 degree angle about 1/8"-1/4" from front of the reed. This short L shape up front works very well to help hold the reed in place. You simply lay the reed onto the reed bridge, roll a large castration band over the top of the reed and you have it.
 
Michael,
A coat or two of hardhat on inside surface of that stinking cow horn will probably solve your problem. I now remember doing that a time or three myself. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Rich - Now let me see if I heard you correctly. In one of your answers above I believe that I read that you use the actual cow horn for a voice? Are you saying that you cut grind and shape the end or tip of the horn to create a lip for the reed to lay and vibrate on? Like a Crit-r call shaped from the cow horn itself? Sounds sorta cool and not that hard to do.

Michael
 
Michael,
Yep, that is exactly what I do. Most of the time, the natural cow horn is not hollow close enough to the tip to make it work in a one piece deal. What I do then is saw the horn tip off at a point where I will have plenty of the horn tip left to make the voice out of. After I drill the horn with a 5/8"-3/4" hole for the later to be added voice, I then proceed to make an open reed voice out of the left over horn tip.
 
Have you found that it is necesary to cut the tip off before fashioning the voice? I've been looking at the horns that I have. They are not very big and have a nice long tapered tip. I think that after cleanup I should be able to cut and grind a suitable voice right in the origional horn, I don't know for sure.

Another question. Where do you get your vergin horns. Do you work with a slaughter house? Do you have rancher friends? Is there a commercial source? I'd like to find a bison horn or two where are these available? PLease if these are trade secrets don't give the information out but if you don't mind I believe that it would help the membership.

Michael
 
Michael,
There are some cow horns that permit cutting a voice right into the tip like you describe. I have three of those here right now. I have purchased cow horns from various places. If you can hook up with someone who works at a slaughter house, you can get them fairly cheap. I ran out of my really good horns, and have been buying polished horns via mail order. I have purchased buffalo horns from E Bay a few times and made howlers from those also.
 
Rich, Are the buffalo horns better sounding , easier to work with or just cooler /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif to have? We have some buffalo ranches in the area, and I'll check out availability.
 
RedFrog,
My experience with buffalo horn is pretty limited, but all of the buffalo horns I have worked with had the exactly perfect shape and thickness for making coyote sounds. It is really "cool" to have something made from the mighty buffalo too. Feast your eyes on this photo of a buffalo horn howler. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
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Strangely enough I find myself fairly lusting for one of those fine ebony howlers. I checked on E-bay, there are a few there right now but I'm unsure of the formate and can't see what quality are talking about.

Michael
 
Mr Eagle - Very cool site. I sorta wish that I'd seen that one first. I've got 3 "powder horn" quality horns comming from the other company. Funny how these things go, I did all kinds of searches for horns yesterday and NOTHING. Today I have two sites that have the perfect thing. Now if I do a search for "POWDER HORNS" I betcha a bunch more pop up.

Michael
 
Rich - all horns have some sort of a bend to them. When cutting a voice into a howler how do you orient the shape of the horn. Do you make the bend work sort of like a saxophone or do you lay the horn slightly to one side or another. Another question and if your not left handed you would likely not think about it. Do you take into consideration the dominant hand of the caller. Right handed folks hold a call all wrong. Now us superior left handers hold them in a superior manner. Do you take this into consideration.

Michael
 


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