[dp] I love when people on the internet have the same questions I do and investigate them so I don't have to... now I have learned that cow horn is not a good replacement for baleen in corsetmaking

Can you make corset boning from cow horn?🐮

I have wondered ever since I learned that baleen is keratin and corset boning "whalebone" is baleen

though I wonder- part of her problem was not being able to get flat, even sheets, and I've seen flat even sheets of horn sold, are there processing strategies that would make this work better?

Cow Horn Pane for Lantern or Hornbook

specifically I'm thinking about these horn panes

which obviously are too small to use for corset boning but they're flat and smooth without the kind of breakage abby had trying to flatten her horn

they're imported from india so someone in india knows how to process cow horn in a way other than abby boiling it on her deck

> Horn panes were made from cattle or water buffalo horns that were first sawn along their length before being flattened in hot presses. The flattened panes were delaminated into very thin sheets using knives. These sheets were then scraped and polished until they were nearly transparent (Caspall, 224).

via some guy's website

Horn panes for traditional tin lanterns — Rob Gorrel...

the full thinness isn't desirable but the hot press might be what's needed...