How to use this stag

B

Brian.Evans

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Aug 20, 2011
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I was given this stag by a friend in New Zealand and I'd really like to use it but I'm not exactly sure if it needs to be flattened more, I've never used stag before. It's sika stag.

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https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-...AAAARIs/_jrLhPPD9_g/s1600/20140606_160709.jpg

It seems to me that the pith should be completely removed, but there wouldn't be much left if I did that.
 
I would just use T-88 epoxy to glue everything together at the end. Epoxy gap-fills, so can be worked into the pith during the process, leaving a very strong handle.
 
Either just use as is with epoxy as Eric suggested, or first fill the pith with cyanoacrylic resin to make more solid.....then glue up with epoxy.
 
Thanks guys. I just wanted to make sure it wasn't "wrong" to leave a bit of the pith on it. Don't want to look back on a knife and wish I'd have done something the right way.
 
Perhaps you would show us the pretty side of your *Aotearoa* stag scales? Just to make me more jealous than I already am.
 
medicevans said:
Thanks guys. I just wanted to make sure it wasn't "wrong" to leave a bit of the pith on it. Don't want to look back on a knife and wish I'd have done something the right way.
Click to expand...

Hey Medic :) B4 you "just use as is with epoxy as Eric suggested", or "first fill the pith with cyanoacrylic resin to make more solid.....then glue up with epoxy", as Stacy suggested " ................. make sure the scales are milled or sanded to the final thickness you would like to see them "as finished" on your knife, with any excess stock coming off the back. Most makers will sand some of the high points on the show side, "highlighting the bark", then finish sanding those high spots to ~ 800 - 1000 grit. I like to add some johnsons paste wax with a q-tip, getting into the cavities between the high spots. After that wax has dried I'll hit the scales using a loose buffing wheel & just a spot of white mirror polish compound. Follow that with a "clean" loose buffing wheel. Your finished stag scales should clean-up with an ivory like shine :thumbup:


:cool:
 
Eric, here's an old picture when I was going to use them on another project I didn't use them on. Honestly, I'm scared to use a non replaceable material, so they may stay unused for a while yet.

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Fuzzy pic, but the stuff looks nice, very nice. I understand the trepidation of the one shot project, I work in sculptural stone and fancy ivories. I'm presently making a hidden tang ivory knife handle with someone else's mammoth ivory. It's nervous-making.

Do a practice run with deer antler to get a feel for how it will go. Do 5 practice runs, but do them with the goal that you will make the good knife with your cool Aotearoa scales. And so what you wait a few years, all my best ivory blanks tend to hang out for a while before I carve them.

If you die before you use it to make the cool knife, that's worse than having ruined it.
 
Eric, can you shoot me an email with your email address? I have a couple questions I think you'd be able to help me with that are out side the bounds of bladeforums.
 
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