Flat Horn

[Scout]

Hank 12,
I like the scrimshaw work. Do you make your own tool from scratch for this or modify an existing tool? I have read about making a tool from round stock and modifying a X-Acto knife to use for this type of work. I suppose each has an advantage over the other but I have not tried either, yet.
The photo turned out well.

[Horner75]

I am also a flat horn lover, but have terrible luck keeping them from cracking while trying to flatten them.  Have ruined some nice horns.  Love the color by the way!

Bull frog, I know this post reply is a bit late, but I use hot cooking oil for all my horn forming these days. __  If you are cracking horns while pressing them, your not getting them hot enough or your trying to bear down on them and flatten to quickly in one press.  Go slow and only start pressing in two or three hot oil heats and wait about 30 minutes between re-heating and you should be fine.  I probably made about 70 flatties this past year and luckily only cracked one and that was because it already had a hair-line slit in the horn! That, or maybe I was just lucky! 

Rick