Antlers, advice for handles

jonnymac44

jonnymac44

Joined
Sep 27, 2007
Messages
7,680
Hey guys,
I have a good buddy who hunts deer every year. He and his uncle want me to make them a small skinner for next season using the antlers from one of their bucks for handle slabs.

So far I've only used G-10 and Micarta for my handles. Is there anything important I should know about processing antlers for handles. If I recall there is a stabilizing process. Can I just cut the antler into slabs on my band saw and sand them flat? Do I need to dig any pith out of the inside of the antler and fill with epoxy?

As you can see, I'm new to the antler thing.....any help would be great! Thanks:thumbup:

Here are a couple pics of the material he brought by today

DSCN3148.jpg


DSCN3147.jpg
 
Johnnymac,

IMHO, that is tooo cool a European mount to use for material. :o

Hang that in your shop (coat, broom, pellet gun rack... really anything) unless they are real adamant about using it. Or perhaps see if they have something else in their collection for the handle.

Scrap Whitetail and Mule deer antler is easy to come by.

For a lot of good examples of antler (mostly Sambar stag) use take a gander at some of the Behring stuff if you have not come across it before:
http://treemanknives.com/
 
Judging by the guesstimate of the base diameter of those antlers (I say they look to be 2.5-3" in circumference? about 7/8"-1"diameter) they would make decent stick tang rolls. Slabs would be AWFULLY narrow and very thick, IMHO. For good scales you'll need a much bigger set of antlers. base circumfrence of 4.5 - 5.0" will net you a scale that wil fit a 1.25" wide handle. Elen Hunting carries a nice selection of antler products. There are some who say you need to stabilize, & there are some who say you don't. I think it comes down to species. yours look to be from a Mule deer. It will be rather porous and pithy so I recommend stabilization for this species antlers. the link is to an article about different antlers and horns and working them. hope this helps.

Jason
 
JasonSCarter said:
Judging by the guesstimate of the base diameter of those antlers (I say they look to be 2.5-3" in circumference? about 7/8"-1"diameter) they would make decent stick tang rolls. Slabs would be AWFULLY narrow and very thick, IMHO. For good scales you'll need a much bigger set of antlers. base circumfrence of 4.5 - 5.0" will net you a scale that wil fit a 1.25" wide handle.
Jason
Click to expand...

I agree with Jason. I have a small amount of experience with antler, but it has always been from mature elk racks. Even then it is not easy to have enough diameter along with the length to make comfortable scales. The danger of making scales from something smaller is that the handle comes out too fat. I'm afraid this is not too encouraging, given the antlers you have to work with. You may just have to do a through tang instead.
 
I'll add that it STINKS to high heaven when ground and even somewhat when cut.
 
pm me jon, i have a bunch of elk and i might have something that you might be able to use. you could also give me a ring today or this evening.
 
Nice rack. Bigger than anything I've ever shot which doesn't say much for my hunting prowess. Anyway, your friend specified a SMALL skinner, and I agree with his judgment on this. Were I in your shoes I would be thinking along the lines of a hidden tang blade using a suitable portion of the antler sandwiched between a brass finger guard and a pommel.

If you jumped up in size you may be able to use the left side antler (when viewed straight on) cutting it off at the skull and using this part for the handle with the flared, gnarly bottom part being where a pommel would be. This might end up being larger than what he wants to carry around though.

And it is not real pleasant to work because of the smell. Touch a small piece to your grinder and take a whiff. But is can sure look nice when you're done.

- LonePine
AKA Paul Meske
 
I turned my trophy into something I could use, and I enjoy it much more now that its carried with me as my hunting field knife.

f7.jpg


co2.jpg


f5.jpg


They're correct about the smell, I put my grinder outside when I'm working with antler.
 
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