antler

Kevin McGovern

Kevin McGovern

Joined
Jul 31, 2015
Messages
3,118
I have a friend who I want to make a knife for who really wants antler for the handle material. He would like scales or a whole antler. I have made all full tang knifes to date, with no pommels or bolsters. Any advice on antler scales for a full tang knife? Should I just dive into making a stick tang with a whole antler? I am concerned the learning curve would be steep. I have the intention of doing some stick tangs, but with wood blocks and maybe micarta guards as i am more familiar with those materials.
 
Only advice I can give is don't try to cut it with a 4tpi band saw blade or it will instantly disappear from your hands and leave you standing there with your heart attack.
 
let me offer an alternative... you can clamp the antler and cut it with a bandsaw 3/4 the way to the crown. you can do a couple passes to get to a 1/8" or whatever the thickness of the tang is and the tang is then exposed on the top and bottom of the antler for 3/4 of the handle... with a bit of half clever measuring you can have a guard hide the transition from blade width to handle width and if you use hidden pins you can also get a stack of spacers in there, simply for the beauty and a more traditional looking antler handle... hope this helps.
 
MarkJeffrey said:
Only advice I can give is don't try to cut it with a 4tpi band saw blade or it will instantly disappear from your hands and leave you standing there with your heart attack.
Click to expand...

also don't recommend using a table saw... i did this like 10 times when i first started making knives from old planer blades and antler. i had the handle clamped and was careful to keep my hands away, but it could have been horrible if it caught. it's amazing what you can accomplish when you are too ignorant of logic to use your common sense, lol
 
rustyrazor said:
let me offer an alternative... you can clamp the antler and cut it with a bandsaw 3/4 the way to the crown. you can do a couple passes to get to a 1/8" or whatever the thickness of the tang is and the tang is then exposed on the top and bottom of the antler for 3/4 of the handle... with a bit of half clever measuring you can have a guard hide the transition from blade width to handle width and if you use hidden pins you can also get a stack of spacers in there, simply for the beauty and a more traditional looking antler handle... hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Hidden pins in the antler? I'm not seeing how I could do that if the antler is in one piece.
 
grind it slower so it doesnt get hot. for a full tang with no bolster or pommel, pay attention to how much pith there is considering it will show on the ends.
 
I may try a stick tang. There is another wip on here using a micarta guard, that would be great for me as I am used to working micarta. Now I just need a crown section of antler...
 
You can go for a walk in the woods and look for sheds, or try hideandfur.com and look at "Bases" in the antler section
 
You can use a rawhide end cap instead of bolster/guard as well. Easy to work with, tough and fits the look IMO.

493ae40e.jpg


The etched blade (which is 440C, unetched is O1- both caribou) has been my steak knife since I made it, and the rawhide covers have been effective and maintained their consistency with use/washing. Another option for you.
 
CUTS LIKE A KRIS and Lieblad are both spot on. If you take a look on you tube there are several good WIP's of making antler handled knives. One guy shows how he made a steel guard and fitted it to the blade and antler and it cam out really well. CUTS LIKE A KRIS echos my thoughts, I think a thick rawhide 'trim guard' fits the antler style and is easy to work with, after saturating the leather in glue it shapes really well, and is pretty easy to form to the blade and handle.

Good luck with your efforts!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top