cow bone from pet store

R

Rey Garza

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Nov 27, 2008
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At the pet store they sell cow bone and it looks pretty darn white. Wondering if this cow bone can be used for knife handles and what do I have to do to make sure all the bone marrow is gone. How do you prepare the bone in order to use as knife slabs or handles?. Can bone be dyed also?, I have used antler mainly but, I'm interested in using cow bone, suggestions?.
 
Dont know how to prep but I know a maker who uses a lot of it. He dies it and jiggs it. Looks OK.
 
Rey Garza said:
At the pet store they sell cow bone and it looks pretty darn white. Wondering if this cow bone can be used for knife handles and what do I have to do to make sure all the bone marrow is gone. How do you prepare the bone in order to use as knife slabs or handles?. Can bone be dyed also?, I have used antler mainly but, I'm interested in using cow bone, suggestions?.
Click to expand...

It can be used. It is a very hard surface. So hard that I thought I would Schrimshaw on some cowbone inserts I used in a knife handle and couldn't hardly touch it. I ended up doing the work with a dremmel and carbide engraving point! Be very careful if you peen your pins down. You will need to make an indentation or countersink to allow the pin to mushroom into. That way the hole in the bone can be slightly larger so the peening process can be done without putting an internal pressure at the hole and exploding the bone if the pins mushs sideways in the hole. Alot of times I will just rough the pins and let the expoy grab the pins and sand flush instead of peening.
Usually if you get the white ones the bone marrow is already gone they have gone through a process and been bleached to achive the whiteness. You need to get the big leg bones. You have to really look over the bones and select those with the larger outer flat surfaces. Then when you slice them open gind off the back to try and get a flat surface. Grind slow and cool often. The problem is once you grind the backside to flat it out and grind the front side it can get pretty thin, depending on how well you selected the bone.
The bone is very dense and doesn't take stains well. I have tried oil based dyes and it doesn't seem to soak into the bone well at all. Potassium Permanganate is a good one for dyeing the bone. It will turn it brown in varying degrees, depending upon how much you use and how long you leave it on the bone.Wear gloves as it also dyes anything it touchs and it is wash and wear.
Here is one link to the product.
http://secure.sciencecompany.com/Potassium-Permanganate-125g-P6403C670.aspx
You can by it off ebay sometimes also cheaper that any where, a distributor under the handle of dowlessdistributors123 (NOT A LINK) handles on ebay as well as some others. Hope this info helps!
 
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Hello:

I have had great success using alcohol based wood stains as a dye base for bone. The problem with bone is even though it is pourous it is very dense....if that makes sense...Oil based dyes I have not hand much success with, and water based dyes tend to result in excessive cracking.

It is suggested that you soak the bone for at least 24 hours in the dye..I usually go 48 and an equal amount of dry time. It is also suggested that you seal the bone with cyanoacrylate under a vacuum to seal up any checking and provide a smoother surface.

I myself love this stuff...

MVC-006F.jpg


Here is a little welded cable Seax I made a while back with a bone grip..Dyed a medium walnut brown...

I just don't know why more folks don't use it...I go through several 100 pounds of this stuff a year...


NVHammerHead
 
Thanks gentlemen for the good info. and a nice piece of bone handle and the knife,nice job. Also, friend of mine covers old cracked antlers using cheap super glue to seal cracks, and proceeds to buff antlers to make them new again. And using potassium permanganate first to add original antler color. Where can you find alcohol based wood stains?. Rey
 
I had a good source for cow leg bones at the local meat market. They're not sold for boilers, so you can get them cheaper. They have a real great flat thick side on them. Prep is something that takes some patience. You've got to dig the marrow out, blow it out, suck it out, whatever, but be prepared, the smell is.... interesting. Once that's done, take some boiling water, mix in some dawn dish soap, mix, but don't make it foamy, and soak the bone for about a week, and all the blood gets forced out, and it ends up white as can be. Let it sit for another couple of weeks, and it'll be dry enough through and through to work just fine. You don't need to keep the water hot through the entire soak, using hot water is just to get the soap to go into solution easier.

Troy
 
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Hello:

On the dye..I get mine from a woodworker's supply store..it comes in powder..you mix it up and it works...Get a gallon of denatured alcohol from the hardware store and you are all set.

The dyestuffs comes in hundreds of colours and well..it also works great on leather..In fact I haven't bought any "leather dye" in the last 25 years..not since I stumbled onto the wood stains..and it's a whole lot less $$$ too doing the "mix your own" route..

NVHammerHead
 
I found it in woodworker.com and type in search, powder dye. You will see J.E.Moser's powder dye stain in all different colors. Click on alcohol aniline mix not the water mix. You mix denatured alcohol with the dry dye to mix whatever amount you may use. Thanks to NVHammerhead for the info. Rey
 
Awesome, thank you. I also found Behlen aniline powder for alcohol. I have some cheap elk antler tines that I want to try this on.
 
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