It was a very heavy frost this morning and really a bit cold to be in the unheated shed but having waited to get the B/A back I was anxious to get the barrel inlet done so after a quick breakfast I made a start.
A preliminary track was made so I could sit the B/A in place and mark the lines in

And half the barrel dia marked n the end to get the depth of the inlet at this point

So with a bit of smoke to guide me I made a start. Having said that this piece of wood has fiddleback so I couldn't use a chisel accross the grain and waves along the chanel so I couldn't use gouges or even my barrel end scrapers along the channel without it chipping the grain out (you can see this in the previous two pics) so it was a case of 60 grip emery round various round dowels to remove the wood without damage to the finish lines I neede to keep sharp.

It took 6 hours to get it done but eventually it all settled into place

After that I got the piece of horn doweled into place and cramped up for the night.