Deer antler and blade design...

[galadduin]

My friend came by the shop, he had a knife in mind he draw me a sketch. Then he selected handle material from my stock. He loved one antler piece but I'm a bit pessimistic about it. Here is the design and the antler piece. I didnt work on antlers before, I was a bit afraid to play them. Here is the question:

Do you think the antler is suitable with this project? the piece is about 1" X 1,5" oval and 5,5" long. It is too thick I guess, so would making it thin degrade the antler?

 

[DC KNIVES]

I think the design works well with that piece and yes thinning it would ruin the antler.Fallow deer like some Whitetail and other species don't have a thick bark like Sambar, so thinnig would get into the pith and not look very good. You would also lose the strength of the antler.The only other way is a piece closer to the tip.Dave

 

[Jason Fry]

You could probably thin the sides by 1/8" (roughly 1/3 cm) without getting too far in, IMO. I bet you can make it work.

 

[galadduin]

I convinced him that antler would work on a full tang much better, he agreed as the full tang knife would be much durable. So I guess the problem is to make the guard on a full tang with bolsters ... He wants full tang and the guard. I didn't make something similar, may be a slot on the tang, do you have any ideas???

 

[silver_pilate]

You could make the guard in a U shape so that it slides onto the tang. Carve out clearnce for the guard on the edge side of the tang so that it ends up sitting flush with the bottom of the handle. Once it's all fit up, drill and pin it with either solder or JB weld.

--nathan

 

[Keith_H]

You could do it like this and put shoulders in the handle and go over the blade if there is room. http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=540364

 

[galadduin]

I guess I will go for a U shaped guard, maybe a guard shaped bolster. The knife before ricasso is widening, therefore I cannot slot the guard from the tip, but that thread is super. Thanks guys, it was really helpful...
Emre