Okay, so I’ve been wanting to make a blow horn cup for a while, you know, one of those Viking-style drinking horns. I finally decided to give it a shot. First thing I needed was, well, a horn! I managed to find a decent-sized cow horn online. It wasn’t too expensive, which was a good start.
When the horn arrived, it was… raw. I mean, really raw. It still had bits of, uh, stuff on it. So, the first step was a serious cleaning. I scrubbed that thing for what felt like forever with hot, soapy water. I used an old toothbrush to get into all the little crevices. I think I went through half a bottle of dish soap.
After the initial scrub-down, I boiled the horn. Yeah, boiled it. This was to get rid of any remaining… organic material… and to soften it up a bit for shaping. Let me tell you, boiling a cow horn makes your kitchen smell… unique. My wife wasn’t thrilled.
- Boil it for maybe 30 mins each time.
- I did 3 repeats.
Once the horn was boiled and slightly more pliable, I started working on the shape. This involved a lot of careful scraping and sanding. I used a variety of tools, starting with a rough file to remove the really uneven bits, then moving on to finer and finer sandpaper. I wanted a smooth, polished finish, so this took a lot of time and elbow grease.
Sanding and Polishing
After what was countless hours of sanding, start to polish. I used some beeswax and a soft cloth. I rubbed the wax into the horn, let it sit for a bit, and then buffed it like crazy. This brought out a really nice shine and helped to seal the horn.
The final step was to make it food-safe. I coated the inside with melted beeswax, ensuring it was completely sealed. Let that dry and cool, which took some time.
Finally. It’s not perfect, but it’s my blow horn cup. And honestly, it looks pretty darn good. Time to fill’er up and celebrate! Cheers!
