Drilling hidden tang

[triggahappy]

Hey guys,

So I'm working on a project of sticking a blade is a whitetail deer antler and am wondering how y'al drill out the handle to fit the blade? I've got a drill press and hand drill to work will. I really just don't know the best way to do it and would rather not waste a good antler crown or two.

Thanks for the help,
Chris

 

[MadBug]

Chris,
Lets start with the problem of Whitetail antler. Pith, and lots of it. Usually the Ivory, or outer hard layer is pretty thin, so it is easy to get into the pith when shaping it.
That being said, I would start with a drill bit slightly smaller than the tang thickness, and drill two or three holes in a line slightly narrower than the tang width. Clean out with a needle rasp fitting frequently for a tight fit. Go easy, antler will melt away quickly with a rasp. You can buy long bits at the hardware store, and cut them to the length you need.

 

[Eric Kelling]

I shoot difficult drill holes by hand. I hold the drill and drillee perpendicular to my face/sightline. Use a fresh drill bit. Go very slow (I assume this is a deer you've killed, better to spend the extra time and get it right!) and turn the piece, as you go, back and forth 90 degrees in your sightline so you can see you are maintaining a straight line in both planes. Like MadBug said, drill a couple of holes and file or rasp them out. Widget Supply is a good source for rasps and files. Epoxy will give you a lot of forgiveness when the time comes (save some carving dust to mix into the epoxy if needed). Definitely work epoxy into any pith as best you can, it will greatly strengthen the finished product. The hardware store epoxy is crap, T-88 is the good stuff. It is slow cure, so you get lots of working time and slow cure is much stronger than the 5 minute brittle crap.