Powder Horns by Mike Burke
Mike has been researching the powder horns of the eighteenth century for the past ten years, during which time he has also been honing up on the techniques of the period in an effort to create accurate reproductions. He likes to think his style is the absence of a discernable style, and the only trait all his horns have in common is that they don’t sacrifice detail for expedience. Many reproduction powder horns show a lack of dedication to detail, their makers being focused instead on a fake orange hue, using power tools to execute shoddy carving at the throat and spout end of the horn—the careless indication of transition in place of crisp file cuts. They are then heaped with modifiers like “authentic,” and “period correct,” and marketed for sale to living historians who know better, but can’t necessarily afford better. The finest reproduction horns show all the marks of handwork, and capture the true spirit of the period, but they often carry a price tag of $500 or more. Mike strives to create the most accurate reproductions available today at a fraction of the price.
He typically invests ten to twenty hours in a horn, much of which time is spent simply in carefully reducing the outside dimension until the horn approximates the weight of the originals he has studied. The remainder of the time is spent filing, scraping and engraving with a variety of hand tools until the horn appears finished, something not evident in horns engraved on a line-by-line basis. In the end, it’s the commitment to time spent on the handmade object that gives it the true feel of the age in which it was made, and it’s Mike’s hope that his horns show the individuality, care and attention to detail characteristic of Early America.
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