Another handle question

hillbillychuck

hillbillychuck

Joined
Jan 24, 2001
Messages
137
I'm just full of questions today. I have seen several examples of knives in appalachain museums and around at antique stores, etc, that have a whole deer foot with the hooves and the hair and all on it for a handle. Anyone know how you would go about making one of these without the hair falling off or the skin rotting? Thanks.

Chuck
 
I'm not sure, but you probably have to have a taxidermist work on it for you. I don't know exactly how they treat things, but the foot would need to be dried and stabilized the same way a deer head would be for mounting on the wall. After that , its probably not a lot different from working on a piece of bone, except you'll have to be careful that you don't tear the hide up when your working on it.

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I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer... but I've got the sharpest knife in the room.
 
I haven't made knife handles but the deer hoof racks I've made, I just bent them in the right position and laid them in the loft to dry. The hair will always break because it's hollow. Ask william at this site. He's not a knifemaker but he can tell you and perhaps provide cured legs:

http://www.tanneryshopinc.homestead.com/
 
Hey, thanks again Peter. Do you have any trouble with them rotting or bugs getting into them when they are drying in your loft? Or do you do it over the winter after hunting season is over? Thanks for the link, I will check it out ASAP. Do you know if freezing them will affect them? I've got 8 or 12 deer feet in my freezer from last hunting season, along with a couple of heads that I use for brain tanning. I would love to see a pic or two of the racks that you are making.

Chuck
 
I haven't had any problems with them rotting. They may be a little nasty for a few days byt dry pretty quickly. I've always done it when it was fresh. I'm not sure how well they will set after being frozen but it would be worth a try. I gave a rack to my son last year. I'll ask him to take a picture.
 
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