Horn Bow Tutorial

Making my own horn bow has been fun! This photo I found online was both my inspiration and incentive to create a tutorial since I found none. 

Difficulty: medium

Supplies Needed:

1) wood handle or stick

2) horns

3) some string

4) glue

5) epoxy (not necessary, but helpful)

6) Great Stuff (not necessary but helpful)

Tools: 

1) band saw (or hand saw)

2) shaver or sand paper

3) rat tail file

4) bench vise (makes job much easier)

I began by choosing a nice solid weathered stick which felt good in my hand and was over 2 feet long.  Picking out the right horns was the next crucial step. I searched eBay for horns because they're not very common to find in second-hand shops in Michigan. I purchased my selected pair and they were a great physical fit with my chosen stick. 

I would have to cut my stick down quite a bit and either cut, whittle or sand the ends down to best fit inside the horns allowing both tips to point in the same direction. The tips of the horns became the nocks after I had secured the horns in place. 

If it's not obvious, this bow is not intended to be functional; not even for LARPing (which I suppose also means functional), but more decorative as I dress up as a ranger for our local Renaissance Festival. 

Next, I used the wood glue and spread it along the stick in a few contact points. There were not many since both the stick and horn are curved. (This step is more like tacking.)

Once the wood glue had dried, I mixed the epoxy and used a brush to better secure the contact points. I did it this way because I had many small pouches of epoxy envelopes and they don't make much (I didn't need much) but the epoxy is quite hard to control as it's fluid and very sticky, AND has a very short setting time (5 minutes). I wanted to be sure my horns were where I wanted them to be prior to messing around with the epoxy which is much less forgiving than wood glue!

After the epoxy had set, I filled in the hole with Great Stuff. Since this product must be used up immediately once opened, I first walked around the house and noted where I could spray the left-overs so I wouldn't waste the can.  

Notice the size of the gap I am going to fill; it's quite large!

A visual looking into the horn.

Keep in mind that Great Stuff expands A LOT! You want to be sure the foam has a place to grow or you risk breaking the object that the foam surrounds. In this case, the horn opening is very large so I didn't anticipate stress on the horn. 

Old school water putty for filling in holes.

Next, I wanted to make a smooth transition from the horn opening to the handle and decided to go with Rock Hard Water Putty. This product can be drilled and shaped before drying (maybe even afterwards??), and once dried, does not accept stain but is paintable. Cost $10 for this can which is probably 15 years old! My cousin loves this stuff, so I'm going to try it out rather than go buy something else. 

Whoa!! Low and behold, I hated this stuff! It took over 24 hours to dry and the product to water ratio was waaaay off! It cracked and large chunks fell off of all edges. It was a disaster. (Does it go bad??) Maybe it's good for filling nail holes! I had to cover the entire surface area where I used the putty. I used a rabbit fur collar from a second-hand coat. It turned out beautifully despite the putty mess. I added some elastic for the bow string, (I KNOW it's not functional, as a stranger pointed out to me LOL - well, in fact it IS! It's functioning as a prop for a costume 😌) anyway, the end result looks fabulous!