Welcome to How it's Made 2. Just another page detailing a second stick while the first is still being made.


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While I am trying to move away from working rams horn there are customers that will not settle for anything else. So after some persuasion by a customer here we are again.  

First step is to choose a suitable horn and that is easier said than done for not all horns will make a decent crook.

Next step, boil for a hour or two depending on how hot you can bet your boiler..


After that comes the press. Again, looks simple but you do have to battle a bit with a biggish horn to get it into the press and and flatten it. This has to be done in a couple of stages.   Hot horn goes into the press, thick end first, leaving the thin end hanging out of the press. While that is pressing you have to apply lots of heat using a hot air gun to the part outside the press and once supple enough clamp the horn to bring the curl into line with the bit in the press.    Once that is done you have to work as fast as possible to release the the pressure on the press and centre the whole horn in the press. This was not possible before because of the curl in the horn. You can get it all in , in one stage but you then damage the big end of the horn in the press because at this point nothing lays flat. So two stages are necessary.

Now leave overnight to cool.

More to follow as we progress.






Horn has been boiled and further heated with a hot air gun. Placed in a press and the curl removed. However the horn is still not uniform in shape so it is further heated and reshaped using the jig below.
The horn in this picture has only been used as an example of how the horn is passed through the press and between the upper and lower blocks. In real life the horn would still be misshapen and not cleaned up and square as above. This press is used to squeeze the horn into itself to compress a inner white material which cannot be polished but can be compressed so that it does not appear on the surface of the horn once filing is started. A number of different sized blocks are used so that the thick end of the horn can be squeezed and then as the horn reduces in diameter smaller blocks are used..
Here the horn has been squeezed up and unwanted material removed. This was a biggish horn in bulk and requires a lot of material removed to create a handle as it is not possible to squeeze the horn right down to the final diameter needed. The horn has also been reheated with hot air guns and placed back in the flat press to flatten the shape again and to try and redistribute the material that is still too thick near the nose or thin end. Had this been a Welsh Mountain horn then a lot of this heavy work would not be needed as these horns are smaller and can almost be made into crooks without too much work.
Next job is to take these square corners off a little, shape the neck with some straight channelled metal blocks. Again heat is used to make the horn malleable and then placed between the metal channels and squeezed under pressure.
We are now ready to take a little horn off the corners of what will become the neck of the crook. At this stage I am more concerned about a fault in this horn which can be seen where the dark patch is evident. This is a blood blister and I have already removed some material here to see if we can get past the fault and reveal good horn.
This is the other side of the horn and the clean side. You will be able to see we have removed a little horn from the sharp corners.
Here is another shot of the possible fault in the horn. This is the third horn in a row were I have had a fault in the horn and on both previous occasions I had to lay the horn aside because it was just not good enough. I expect many will say they cannot see a fault, but believe me the horn in this area was damaged and the bruising is evidence of it.
This is the bottle jack and frame where the neck of the crook will be squeezed up. The two half shells on the cross member of the frame will be placed around the horn once it has been heated to make it soft and pressed to straighten the horn into a neck section.
Here the hot horn is between the two shells and pressure has been applied. I have been sparing with the pressure at this point as I noticed a little tearing at the top of what will become the neck. Once cold and set I will reheat and use slightly smaller shells to draw the horn in a little more. Also I have to be careful with how much pressure I use in case the previously mentioned damaged is opened up. So at the moment I am approaching this operation with caution.
More to follow.
The horn has now been taken out of the neck shells and the horn has been cleaned up a little to remove the horn squeezed out between the shells and to also check on the damaged area. Next stage is to heat and squeeze up the crown area. This is the top part of the crook that arcs horizontally. The horn is heated and placed between the pipe seen in the picture and a arced back plate in the vice jaw. Once enough heat is applied the horn is feed between the pipe and back until the area in question is compressed to our satisfaction.
During the first pass between the pipe and back plate the horn is further heated to maintain its softness and have it ready for moving along by an inch or two to further squeeze up.
We have now worked the crown area and removed the horn to a forming jig.Again heat is applied and the horn clamped against the wood form in the centre of the jig. Once the neck ( the straight part of the crook head) has been clamped in place the horn is heated along its length and slowly the whole horn is pressed around the former. Finally the nose area is pulled in with a sash clamp. In this case I hope to carve the nose of the horn with a dog if there is sufficient material there. If the nose was to be turned then the area under the sash clamp would have been squeezed up further to reduce its width and bring it to a tapered profile. Thats it for now.
Today the horn came out of the forming jig ( pic above) and needed some work on the nose. This had to be heated again and a section at a time pressed as in this picture. This is due to one side being flat and the other tapered. I tried to even out this disparity.
After trying to even the sides out I then needed to put a little twist in the nose, this is still part of trying to get the nose a little more balanced. Here the G clamps are used as localised pressure points.
Because we have been applying heat and moving the horn we need to true the nose up again. This is done like every other operation with heat first and then some action. Here the horn is between steel plates and wedges used to true things up. There are lots of little tweeks like this on these Upland horns, were they Welsh Mountain we would not have half this work.
Back in the forming jig as the previous operations have opened up the horn and we now need to get our inner shape back. Slow job this horn work, often you make very little head way in the early stages. Once all the tweeking is done we should be able to start removing unwanted material and marking out the carving on the nose. Things should speed up if we are lucky now, however you never know with rams horn.
Horn left to cool over night in the forming jig and now pencilled in with the carving details. Could do with more meat in this area but you have to work with what your given.. On the whole this is not a technique I particularly like as with the horns I have access to carving means you are probably going to cut into the inner white of the horn. It can be squeezed up and compressed , but in this area the horn has a great habit of folding over on its self , So it will be interesting to see what effect the previous squeezing of this area has had. Once you start cutting here there is no going back , so work slow and neat. The method I much prefer and is frowned upon by most stick makers is to carve the dog separately and notch it in to the nose of the crook. In this way a horn that does not have enough good horn for carving can still be carved. Also the dog can be carved out of scrap buffalo horn for durability , once slotted into the horn and glued with epoxy resin it should be good for life, and as it is going to be painted, the base of the carving can be painted green and hide your joint , and it is a joint a mortise and tenon, and not using the phrase I really hate "stuck on". Traditional stick makers will argue with me, but if jointing pieces together was good enough for the greatest carvers in the world its good enough for me.
The dog has been rough cut as well as the turned nose. Constant shaving of the material helps improve the crook shape. Still lots of material to remove before we are finished.
Here we have started to work on the dog a little just to get the line of the nose established. The neck is marked out for drilling to take a 14mm peg
The horn is placed in a simple jig for accurate drilling. This could be done by eye but more often than not the drill bit is out of line through one axis or another, so its best to clamp the horn firmly on the pillar drill and line everything up to save problems later.
Now its the turn of the shank/stick. Another simple wood clamp holds the shank in as straight a position as is possible. The shank cannot move up or down nor spin as the drill bit engages it. Tape can be wrapped around the bit to act as a guide to depth of drilling.
Stick and horn brought together temporarily. From now on we can start reducing the horn, using the shank as a guide to the amount to be removed from the neck and then any other areas to bring the head into a visual balance. The square corners all along the horn can now be rounded and attention paid to carving the dog and the turned nose. One operation that has not been shown here however is the straightening of the stick. Sticks rarely come straight and work is needed to make them acceptable. Again heat is used to soften the offending area and the stick is either bent against a wood slot or placed between two pieces of wood which exert pressure on a particular point. Bends do not just occur in one plane. A bend in a stick could be a compound bend and needing attention from different angles.
Work has now started on the carving and bring the crook to a more acceptable shape. This has taken most of the day. Starting with carving the dog and then constantly refining it and then removing excess material so that the neck matches the top of the shank. Lots of filing scrapping with stanley knife blades and rubbing down with grit paper..
This is the crook outside in the lovely sun we have been getting this week. It is not until you take your work outside and out of the subdued light of the workshop do you notice what else needs attention. Here for instance the top of the neck on the back end needs more material removing. The inside line from the shank up thru the horn should be a straight line but the back is allowed to be a little proud at the top end. This is all to do with the visual impact of the lines along the crook. Too much as here and it appears heavy, too little and it can look insipid. So lots more to do at the next session. We have to decide on a collar. And I do not believe what some stick makers believe that some one who uses collars cannot make a nice neat joint between stick and horn. It is one of the easiest things to achieve if you know what to do. The collar not only strengthens the whole but can enhance a crook, and if you recess the collar into the horn and hazel then it is far more difficult than making a joint without a collar. I remember a visitor at a show whispering to his wife that whoever made that stick with a collar could not make a clean plain joint. I could not believe my ears, the rest of the beautiful carved horn work was completely. ignored.
The stick end was whittled to fit the interior shape of the brass ferrule.
As with the brass collar the inner surfaces have been roughed up with a Dremel drill to provide a key for the glue.
This crook will have a name engraved on it, so it could be a good time to start thinking and planning this. As the crook head is still loose at this point it is far easier to handle it in the confines of my small office/study where I will mark out the name and probably engrave it. A four foot stick attached to the head would just not fit in this small office space. More to follow.
Apart from the ferrule and collar being fitted as seen above. The horn has had further material removed from the back of the neck , the top of the neck and the crown. Lots of sanding has been done on the horn and the stick has also had a good rub down with worn out 180 grit , sealer applied and rubbed down with wire wool. So basically we are at a point were we can be thinking about gluing up, however I need to engrave a name on this horn and if I glue the four foot stick to the horn will not be able to comfortably handle the horn as I mark out the name due to my office/study being very small. There is also something to be said for varnishing the head and stick separately. Again individual items are easier to handle, especially when you want to control the drying of varnish on a horn handle. What I mean by this is that as the varnish dries on the horn it has a tendency to gravitate to the lowest part of the handle, sometimes causing drips or pooling at the lowest part of the head. Therefore I like to be able to rotate the
varnished head every so often and stop the varnishing from moving to much. Works for me.
The crook has now been loosely assembled, marks placed on the shank and head for the best alignment then while the head can be removed it is marked out with engraving guide lines and the dog painted. After the engraving has been finished the head and shank can be varnished separately and once dry finally glued together. You can see in this photo how much material was removed from the neck to give a better shape and balanced look. Photos to follow.
The crook is now finally varnished , and engraved and the last job was to glue the whole together. It is a shame that the varnish finish is not reproduced in this photo.
Stages in carving the heel of a shepherds crook as an alternative to the above style. We have followed the steps as in the previous crook above but left extra material along the neck which is the part that connects to the hazel shank. The area for carving wants to squared off a little and your guide lines drawn in.
Next we start carving out the area around the eyes and down to the mouth. We need to get this balanced first and then everything else flows from it.
Once we have finished carving , the whole needs to be rubbed down and cleaned of dust before painting the border collie on the side and the rams mask painting.
After painting the dog on the side the rams head can be painted and once dry the whole can be varnished. While the acrylic paint is tough it is still best to use varnish to give the paint a long life.
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