Free longhorn SVG files

A lot of horn and not much head

A grown longhorn can carry horns two metres from tip to tip on a head barely a quarter of a metre wide, and the files keep that proportion. It means the head designs are wide and low: at 100 mm across the horns the face is only about 25 mm wide and 57 mm tall. Plan the size from the horn tips. The horns narrow to under 2 mm at the very tip, so in thin wood or acrylic round the tips off or cut the design at 200 mm or more.

The features of the face are cut through: the eyes, a brow line, a blaze down the nose, two nostrils and the mouth. On a 100 mm head the eyes are about 7 mm long, which weeds cleanly in vinyl. Smaller than 70 mm across, use the mounted horns, the steer silhouette or the monogram frame, which have fewer or no openings.

Ranch signs, gates and gifts

The ranch sign has an open board for a name, and the monogram frame has a clear ring for an initial. The steer silhouette stands on a flat strip of ground, so it can be glued upright in a shadow box or cut from steel for a gate. The spotted steer has its patches cut out: lay it over a pale backing and it reads as a red and white animal.

How to open the files

• Cricut Design Space: choose Upload, pick the SVG, and add it to the canvas. Set the width you want; the shape is already welded.
• Silhouette Studio: Designer Edition and above open the SVG. The free Basic Edition does not, so open the DXF instead.
• LightBurn, xTool Creative Space and Glowforge: import the SVG, then set the layer to cut, score or engrave.
• Inkscape, Illustrator and Affinity: open the SVG. It is a plain filled path, so you can recolour it, add a stroke or combine it with your own work.
• Printing or sublimation: use the PNG, which has a transparent background.

Each design page lists the file’s narrowest part at seven sizes, so you can tell whether it will survive at the size you plan to cut.

Questions