May 2014 – Message from the Guildmaster

Dear Membership:

The warm conviviality of our Guild Meeting in March seeing old and new faces and hearing of each other’s winter of discontent with the weather, has rapidly receded with time.  The meeting itself was refreshing with speakers knowledgeable of their craft, a lot of original horn and bag examples gathered together by the Southern contingency, as well as marvelous examples of past and present workmanship in horn.  Tom Ames’s encyclopedic mind provided a visual and academic study of inscribed symbols left by craftsmen of the past on their work allowing us to better understand  the world and time they lived in.  Today we can honor their thoughts by duplication and enrich our minds by investing time thinking of some of the commonality of life then and now.  Carl Dumke’s Masters verbal and photographic presentation “The Hornebook  – A Study of History, Form & Function” was a superlative presentation by a true Master.

Fort Frederick Market Fair bustled with a multitude of juried craftspeople vieing for attention including a goodly representation of Hornsmiths.  Raw horn supply was plentiful and our Guild members, dispersed throughout the fair, drew lots of attention.  My sales (non horn) were off from last year but the weather, ever variable, lent four of the five crispy mornings sunshine to start a fire, boil coffee and make an omelet breakfast for wife Regina and Yankee Bill Carter.  This has been a tradition together for us at Ft. Frederick since 1996.

New and continued membership in the Guild is both a mission and necessity.  Most of us have membership in more than one organization relating to black powder and history.  All the organizations vie for our dollars to be able to educate the public, preserve our past and secure the future for our offspring.  We are the frontline of the war on relevancy of our culture and heritage when it comes to educating our fellow citizens young and old about history.  Started in 1996 the Honourable Company of Horners has muscled its way to the very forefront of American black powder enthusiasts with accurate historic, artful, educational presence at shows, in the printed media and our very own professional publication- “The Horn Book.”  Of the thousands of black powder shooters today a very small portion are Guild Members.  Not every black powder shooter uses a powder horn but many do.  Not everyone can make a powder horn on their own, but they can learn from our educator membership.  Please make sure you are up to date paying your Guild membership dues.

A strong presence of the Horn Guild will be at Dixon’s Gun Fair, July 25-27, 2014.  A new location for the Guild’s summer reception on Friday night will be conveniently located only a couple of miles from the fair.  Reserve early to make sure you can attend this premier event.  [Read more about the reception here…] Whether a new attendee to Dixon’s or an old regular make it a point to attend Chuck Dixon’s welcoming remarks and “our” role in society on Friday morning. I hope you can make it; I plan on being there.

Best regards,

Dick Toone,
Guildmaster