I forge a lot of bull heads for camp oven lifters and the like. When the horns are used as a grip for the fingers, ears on the bull would get in the way. However, I have forged a few recently for business card holders and I thought it might be interesting to add ears. It was a real problem to forge the ears from part of the horns, so the only way I could see of solving the problem was to forge them separately and integrate them into the design. It worked reasonably well, although I did add a small blob of weld in the V of the horns.

Here's the longhorn with droopy Brahman ears. Wondering if anyone has an alternative method.

Great idea. Ears will mark the turning point for the next generation of sculpture.

 

I just googled longhorn cows, and the ears all seem to be small and just hiding under the horns.  

Maybe try that? 

I dont know even how to begin to make one of those, how do you do the horns in the first place?  I really liked these since i first saw them

 

The ones down under probably have a lot of Brahma in them; a cow of the Zebu strain in India known for tolerance of hot conditions---and big ears.

Hmm. With making the ears I'm thinking it's time to be trying some goats. 

 

16 hours ago, (M) said:

I just googled longhorn cows, and the ears all seem to be small and just hiding under the horns.  

Maybe try that? 

I dont know even how to begin to make one of those, how do you do the horns in the first place?  I really liked these since i first saw them

 

In northern Australia most of the cattle stations run Brahman or Brahman cross cattle, and they have inordinately long ears. It's not difficult to forge the horns - just split the bar and forge them out sideways, then fold over to form the head. If I were any good at videoing I would do a 'how to' on these.

Ok, i googled those qnd i see what you mean.  I think they look quite funny! 

I can definitely see the resemblance.  

I will have to try them tomorrow, the problem is that i am really bad at hot-splitting... 

On ‎20‎/‎05‎/‎2018 at 12:22 AM, (M) said:

I will have to try them tomorrow, the problem is that i am really bad at hot-splitting... 

Well you can always use a hacksaw. It's not that hard, especially if you flatten the square bar to half thickness in the forge first.

Ok, ive heard that before.  What kind of chisel/slitter do you use usually?