Antler handle recommendation

jasonprom

jasonprom

Joined
Dec 3, 2008
Messages
62
I epoxied this hidden tang knife I'm making for my boss last night. I still have a bunch of work to do on the finger guard and will be adding a brass pin through the handle but am looking for recommendations on what to do with the butt end. Can this be polished to look nice? Otherwise I have some thin brass I was thinking of exopying on the butt and secure it with some brass pins.
Thoughts, recommentations, constructive criticism?
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Do you have a minds eye as to what you want it to look like?

Not much you can do with that pithy center in my experience.
 
I think a nice, polished rounded over butt would look nice, IF it can be polished to look good. The middle area is my concern; I don't think it will look good but I've never worked with antler before so I don't have much experience with this. This is why I was thinking of putting a thin brass cap on the end. It may also dress it up a bit too.
 
I like your brass cap Idea, maybe solder a piece perpindicular to the cap and grind out the soft pithy center of the antler and epoxy it into the end, should look sharp.

I like the Design of the blade by the way, your work?
 
R,
Thanks for the help. I also think the cap idea may look nice.
Thanks for the compliment as that is a blade I ground out of 1080 steel. I seem to make a lot of drop point hunters for some reason.
 
Jason
Just a tip,drill out as much of the pith as you can,as deep as you can and then fill the end of the antler with epoxy and let it set for a day or so and cure,then you can drill a hole in a piece of brass and thread it,screw a long bolt into the piece of brass and give it a touch of super glue,cut the head off the bolt and drill a hole in the end of the antler that is filled with epoxy,fill the new hole with new epoxy and insert screw and clamp,let it cure and then finish.
The pith is real weak and will not hold up,when I have one that pithy I drill and clean out as much as possible and then fill it up with epoxy,after it cures then I drill for the tang and pommel.
Stan
 
I agree with most that a butt cap is the best and most attractive way to finish your knife . Remove as much of the pith as you can first . A thin brass butt plate would look nice .
 
And remember that sanding the brass plate on the buffer will get it hot. Go slow or you may un-glue the epoxy and/or scorch the stag where it sits against the brass.

I'll give you a neat trick....make a faux pommel nut. Do like Stan suggested, and drill a piece of 1/4" brass and tap it 1/4-20 Chamfer one side of this hole a bit. Flat sand the chamfered side to 400 grit.
Take a 2" x 1/4" bolt ( steel or brass) and chuck it in a drill press. Turn the head down with a file to a nice rounded top, and sand smooth while turning. Now, thread this through the brass cap (from the chamfered side), and grab the threaded end with a pair of pliers, locking the rounded cap down tight to the brass. A drop of super glue will hold it in place forever. Now you have a plate with a bolt sticking out. Drill out the pith and epoxy the plate to the butt, and finish as follows.

One good hand finishing technique is to use a file to get it close to the stag as you can, and then use small round files to match the stag profile. Once that is done, hand sand the butt with steel wool to a nice satin finish.
The steel wool works great on cleaning/brightening/buffing up the stag,too.
 
I will tell you now if you get a product called Quick Poly it comes from horse shoeing supply places. This is an amazing product for hidden tang knives. It is as thin a alcohol and dries in about a minute or less. It is used on horse hooves and is very tuff.
I glue my antler or whatever to the guard with a small amount of 5 minute epoxy.
Then I put it in a holder so the butt end is upright and mix the quickpoly and pour it into the hole in the handle, you don't have to drill all of the soft out of the horn as the quick poly with penetrate it and fill it up and it will be harder than you can imagine. Once you fill the handle with this there will be a small amount of clear liquid that forms on the top just pour it off and you are ready to either drill some of it out to make a way to attach the butt cap or finish it off as it has a slight yellow creme color. This stuff is never going to soften and come out. If you make a mistade and want to take the handle off you will have a problem. It will not soften with heat or acetone it is there to stay.
Any one doing hidden tang knives should try this stuff it is great and you don't have to wait to work on the knife you can start the finish process in about 10 minutes and not have to worry about it.
Let me know if you try it.
Percy
 
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After months of laziness and some other hobbies, I've finally finished the knife. I did put a brass cap on using brass pins and I think it turned out pretty well. The camera used on these shots doesn't seem to do a very good job on close ups, so my apologies for the fuzzy shots.
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Turned out very nice,Thanks for showing the finished knife.
Stan
 
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