Vatchet's Horn
The nation was losing heart. It had been staggering under the weight of economic collapse for nearly ten years. President Franklin D. Roosevelt knew he had to get people back to work, so he created 20 major administration programs that were focused on economic development. One of the biggest of the aforementioned programs was the Work Progress Administration (WPA) which created millions of infrastructure jobs as well as employment opportunities for artists and writers.
One WPA program was called the Federal Writers Project (FWP). This program hired hundreds of professional writers to travel throughout America to document American oral histories and folklore.
One team of writers was sent to interview people in Vincennes, Indiana -- located on the Wabash River. Vincennes has an ancient history dating back thousands of years when the area was inhabited by numerous indigenous cultures. Then, in 1732, French fur traders established a fort at this location thus giving the settlement its name by which we call it today.
As the FWP writers interviewed the locals, they began seeing patterns in the stories they collected. They quickly realized they were speaking to descendants of the original French settlers, and the stories they recorded were centuries-old tales of local events passed down through the generations.
One such story was of a fellow named John Vatchet, who while walking the orchard road into town by night, had the most unfortunate encounter with a loup-garou -- the most dreaded among all those cursed: a werewolf!
The horn pictured above is inspired by that old French tale. It measures 8.5" across (9.25" along the curve). The most striking feature of this faceted flat horn is the loup-garou head carved into the spout. The horn also has a storage compartment to hold a few extra silver bullets just in case you missed on the first shot (I strongly advise you to take careful aim). The base band and hatch are made of German Silver. It also has a ring pulls in case you want to tie it to your bag.
Caring for your powder horn.
Horn items are susceptible to moth and beetle damage. The best thing you can do to avoid this damage is simply to fill it with black powder and use it. If you plan to store your horn, you might be tempted to put it in a box and tuck it away on the top shelf next to the extra towels in the second bedroom where it's good and dry. Giving in to this temptation, may not be a sin, but it's pretty close. You'll be storing up your treasure where moth doth corrupt. You see, worms prefer to dine in the darkness. Instead, when you ain't using it, hang it up on display and let it shine for everyone to see. But be forewarned: they will be bound to ask, "where did you get that powder horn?" And you can say, "from K. Carter, hornsmith, at KC-Hornworks.com."
One last thing: It's always kinda nice to give your powder horn a name. It's just one more way of showing your horn that you really do care.
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