I asked the project leader, Dick Toone, for an update on the Horn Guild’s spring pole lathe progress. Dick was kind to supply an answer and some musings as well. “Tip In or Tip Out?” Dick takes on this question…. please read on. And by the way, Dick is no stranger to 18th Century practical objects. See his website at www.livinghistoryshop.com
Best regards,
Rick Sheets

While helping oldest son Rick prepare the Thanksgiving turkey, he now relieving his Mother of this duty, he questioned my progress on the Horn Guild lathe.  I brought forth my explanation of the importance of an off-center lathe for horn production from a horn shop and by way of explaining I twirled an original screw tip that hangs over our kitchen fireplace along with an original Peter Gonter rifle.  I told him that John Getz was producing one of the most important pieces (the mandrel) now and am finishing the drawings of the frame. At some point I brought up the fact that the major percentage of the horns were worn on the right side and were horns from the cow’s right side as is my original.  This “fact” comes from years of observation of originals by Roland Cadle and he gives no reason. 

My son, Rick, is a luthier and studying 17-18th Century violin makers’  techniques to advance his acoustic guitar knowledge and voiced his opinion that everything in the “pre-modern fastner/manufacturing period” had a reason for use.  I agreed and we deserted the kitchen for the gun shop, there being horns to play with.

When I needed a powder horn to use with the first rifle I made in 1977 I, like my buddies chose from a heap of raw horns ones one that fit the contour of my body on the right hand side with the tip snug to the belly.  This was the popular thought of the embryonic trekking period and well before Roland Cadle’s espoused observed knowledge.  Didn’t want to catch that tip running through the brush!  Reinforcing the idea there must be a reason for the shape selection of the powder horn I noted that the professional horn builder in the 18th century would have received an equal amount of left and right horns to work with yet selected the right side for powder horns.  Right handedness was considered correct for eons and children were taught to write with their right hand even if they were left handed.  My observation in Africa and more recent television exposure of other nations eating procedures of using only fingers of their right hand, enhanced by the knowledge that there is no toilet paper in these areas leads me to believe that there is a deep rooted reason buried back in our physic for aversion to left handedness.  In today’s Western Civilization lefties are OK even desired in baseball pitchers.

Rick and I then donned horns with “tip in” and “tip out” and observed each other going through the measuring and loading procedure and compared our thoughts.  Shortly, younger son Rob (age 40) stuck his nose up in the gun shop to see if he was missing out on something important like dividing the family fortune (or lack of fortune) and we immediately recruited him into our experiment with no explanation.  (Both of our sons grew up with muzzleloaders as their earliest gun experience.)

All of us confirmed that the flow of powder coming out of a “tip out” right side worn horn was easier to control than ‘tip in” – though slightly.  Independent of collaboration both boys thought falling flat head first on a “tip-in” horn would hurt more and were a “tip-out” horn to ever be inverted over a muzzle directly and a flash back occur the full weight of the powder in the horn would be exposed to possible spark rather than a slim trail in the neck leading to the main body of powder.  We cut off  the experimentation in time to get the turkey out of the oven before the ladies found out what we were doing.

Dick Toone