Durability of Sambar Stag

waynorth said:
I've heard that Antlers were required to be dipped in Potassium Permanganate by exporting companies, to render them safe from transmissable parasites!!??
This would surely add color, as it's a strong oxidant!!
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Almost all Sambarm stag we see has been treated with PP. The British used to ship the stag back to the UK when India was the star of the Empire. They shipped it in barrels of PP. My understanding was the PP was used as a disinfectant and the color was a cool by product.

As far as durability I've made thousands of knives with both Sambar and lately elk. I have never repaired, that I can recall, an handle of either one. Bone yes, woods yes, ivory yes, horn yes but an antler either Sambar or Elk no.
 
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Wild Willie said:
I have a gec with stag handle slabs that spent 2 weeks or so being run over in the driveway after I dropped it getting out of a vehicle after a wedding. The rest of the knife was a bit rough until I thinned the blade past the pitting, but the stag was fine.
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:eek:😍 Testament to durability.

My 2014 Stag Forum Knife spent a whole week outdoors on a well-head during the autumn rains. I'd gone inside the country house and forgotten I'd put it down. When I returned a week later I discovered an 'obese' and bloated Stag knife with some light rust forming, it looked terminal 😭 But slow drying and the Stag regained its former shape and none the worse for it at all!

Stag is not only tough & beautiful it's a recycled material :thumbsup: Those Stags get fed up with their old antlers and want some velvety new ones so they opt to drop them knowing they'll be turned into magnificent knife handles, immortality, win win I'd say.
 
Will Power said:
:eek:😍 Testament to durability.

My 2014 Stag Forum Knife spent a whole week outdoors on a well-head during the autumn rains. I'd gone inside the country house and forgotten I'd put it down. When I returned a week later I discovered an 'obese' and bloated Stag knife with some light rust forming, it looked terminal 😭 But slow drying and the Stag regained its former shape and none the worse for it at all!

Stag is not only tough & beautiful it's a recycled material :thumbsup: Those Stags get fed up with their old antlers and want some velvety new ones so they opt to drop them knowing they'll be turned into magnificent knife handles, immortality, win win I'd say.
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Yep, think about all the guys out hunting shed antlers... They've been sitting outside. So long as the vermin don't get to them before you do all is well.
 
Wild Willie said:
Yep, think about all the guys out hunting shed antlers... They've been sitting outside. So long as the vermin don't get to them before you do all is well.
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Ive found the remnants of shed antlers from the Rusa where I used to live ...Illawarra...but they were nubbled down to stumps...im told the other deer munch on them for the minerals.....they literally looked like theyd been sucked.
 
meako said:
Ive found the remnants of shed antlers from the Rusa where I used to live ...Illawarra...but they were nubbled down to stumps...im told the other deer munch on them for the minerals.....they literally looked like theyd been sucked.
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I've not heard of our resident white tails munching their own, it's the squirrels and other rodents you need to beat.
tongueriver said:
This fellow keeps his spare stag in a "shed," believe it or not. How appropos. Meanwhile, he said that antelope shed their antlers. They do not; they don't have antlers, and they are pronghorns, not antelope. The closest living relative to the American Pronghorn is the giraffe. I think you will enjoy this little clip.
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That's most definitely a lot of found antler. Ms. Wild Willie and myself have several atop the mantle, but we don't find enough to warrant a storage shed.

Antler is definitely a pretty remarkable material. I have a skull from a road killed buck that I plan to use the antlers from for a handle or two at some point, just haven't gotten around to it yet.
 
tongueriver said:
This fellow keeps his spare stag in a "shed," believe it or not. How appropos. Meanwhile, he said that antelope shed their antlers. They do not; they don't have antlers, and they are pronghorns, not antelope. The closest living relative to the American Pronghorn is the giraffe. I think you will enjoy this little clip.
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Pronghorn do shed their horns though. But you are correct they are not antelope.
 
I’ve never been a very big fan of stag. This thread is absolutely fascinating though! It is definitely giving me a newfound appreciation for stag.

Thanks for posting all the interesting information everyone!
 
I have some Sambar stag handled knives that get carried quite a bit. They've all held up really well for me.
Here's a small collection of some really nice stag handled knives from Hiroaki Ohta. They get carried once in awhile.
Stag is by far my favorite handle material.
s3QDdvW.jpg
 
Hatchet_Jack said:
Pronghorn do shed their horns though. But you are correct they are not antelope.
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Actually they are neither antler nor horn. They are hair bound with complex protein and other substances, and when the old sloughs off the new is already partially formed. This animal is the only representative not only in its genus, but in also its family. Unique to the animal kingdom.
 
Fixall said:
I’ve never been a very big fan of stag
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To be honest it's not my favorite either, I only have 2 knives in stag, the aforementioned gec, and an older Voss made hen and rooster. Both are pretty much only carried for dressier occasions. IMG_20221221_194847872.jpg

Recycled picture of the gec I was talking about... It started life as a 92 eureka jack. Before the blade delete, engraving, and clipping the spear point.
 
tongueriver said:
Actually they are neither antler nor horn. They are hair bound with complex protein and other substances, and when the old sloughs off the new is already partially formed. This animal is the only representative not only in its genus, but in also its family. Unique to the animal kingdom.
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At any rate I've got enough points to draw a decent pronghorn unit when I get over to the states in a couple of years!
 
The only Stag model I use regularly is this 33. I have had it since new, and I think it is nearly 10 years old, but, it is always carried in a sheath, so it does not really get any damage.
 
tongueriver said:
This fellow keeps his spare stag in a "shed," believe it or not. How appropos. Meanwhile, he said that antelope shed their antlers. They do not; they don't have antlers, and they are pronghorns, not antelope. The closest living relative to the American Pronghorn is the giraffe. I think you will enjoy this little clip.
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It's an odd hobby but it must BE thrilling to discover a decent set of antlers in the wild. Myself I think he could do further homage to the animals by letting a couple of knife makers or reps of knife companies into his shed to select a few decent pieces for knife use :cool: Hey why not get him to donate towards the next GEC Stag issue? Their antler is frankly not what it used to be......

Here in Scandiland we have a lot of ELK (what you call MOOSE, same type of animal though) they have impressive looking antler but never heard of makers using it, too pithy perhaps or chalky?
 
Wild Willie said:
To be honest it's not my favorite either, I only have 2 knives in stag, the aforementioned gec, and an older Voss made hen and rooster. Both are pretty much only carried for dressier occasions. View attachment 2049888

Recycled picture of the gec I was talking about... It started life as a 92 eureka jack. Before the blade delete, engraving, and clipping the spear point.
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Wow, outstanding! Which tool you used to do the engraving?
 
I think the tightness of the stag pattern matters a lot, as well as the contrast between the peaks and valleys. If it’s good stag (high surface contrast, deep inaccessible valleys) it will wear very well, the pocket and your hand will polish the peaks and not the valleys. The problem is that this grade stag is generally only found on customs and occasionally a GEC if you get lucky. Many don’t have a lot of pattern, or not very aggressive texture, which means the coloring tends to wear quickly to a cream/light brown.
 
I like Stag and have found it to be very durable. I do like my knife stag to have character, don't like "fat" stag and find that if I am buying stag I want to see it in hand or get good detailed photos. GEC's stag is pretty good, especially the John Lloyd stag on the 2014 bladeforums knife. I also like it for pistol grips but here I want it to be smoother and less gnarly. For some reason (traditional?) German stag folders seem to have one almost decent side and one smooth, non-descript side; I like my stag matched at least somewhat.









 
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