I am looking at doing something similar to this www.silverstag.com - What are some key steps that are involved?
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Deer anlter knives
- Thread starter jaclinto
- Start date
J.McDonald Knives
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How much experience do you h ave with making knives? Also, where do you live? Fill in the rest of your profile info so we can try and find a local guy to help you.
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http://www.calocustomknives.com.ar/ Ruben Calo does some great tutorials on his website.
- Joined
- Nov 24, 2005
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- 77
Well,
I don't know if you've looked a silver stag in person, but after making a few knives with antler handles, I am no longer impressed with the fit of the guard and handle on the silver stags that I have picked up and looked at. I do a nicer job of fitting things. Their blades look better, but I'm working on that.
There have been a few posts about working antler. Some people completely drill out the pith and fill with epoxy. I have not tried that. I have just filled the pith with thin super glue and sealed with the same, filling the tang hole with epoxy. My first experience with anlter involved alot of broken 1/16 and 1/8 drill bits and cursing. The antler heats up very fast and seems to grab the bit (especially thick pith), snapping it off at unreachable places...Power drill or drill press didn't matter they would just break. Go slow and back out alot. My best results have been with larger drill bits or if using the small ones, chucking them in a dremel and using it like a rotozip gimmick. ACE hardware sells aircraft length drill bits in 1/16 and 1/8 plus all the larger sizes- they take alot of flex and don't break easily, plus you can cut them down to a more reasonable size, say 5 or 6 inches.
Get a bunch of antler and experiment. Have fun.
I don't know if you've looked a silver stag in person, but after making a few knives with antler handles, I am no longer impressed with the fit of the guard and handle on the silver stags that I have picked up and looked at. I do a nicer job of fitting things. Their blades look better, but I'm working on that.
There have been a few posts about working antler. Some people completely drill out the pith and fill with epoxy. I have not tried that. I have just filled the pith with thin super glue and sealed with the same, filling the tang hole with epoxy. My first experience with anlter involved alot of broken 1/16 and 1/8 drill bits and cursing. The antler heats up very fast and seems to grab the bit (especially thick pith), snapping it off at unreachable places...Power drill or drill press didn't matter they would just break. Go slow and back out alot. My best results have been with larger drill bits or if using the small ones, chucking them in a dremel and using it like a rotozip gimmick. ACE hardware sells aircraft length drill bits in 1/16 and 1/8 plus all the larger sizes- they take alot of flex and don't break easily, plus you can cut them down to a more reasonable size, say 5 or 6 inches.
Get a bunch of antler and experiment. Have fun.