Moose Antler. What's it good for?

Michael J. Spangler

Michael J. Spangler

Joined
Oct 8, 2003
Messages
2,181
mt brother seems to think its good for those nights where you're itchy and just can't reach that sweet spot on your back... just swing it around and scratch away. question is can i make knife handles from it? i think the sticker says 11 1/2 lbs
 
The tines are excellent for knifehandles. Use the pans to make display bases.
 
Hi... I have used a Moose crown which was quite substantial for the handle on a stick tang Bowie. It is a pain in the "&$$" hollowing it out but the result is well worth it. The large Moose handle really suits this type of blade especially for Mountain Man re-enactors.

Jim Ziegler
 
The butt will polish like Ivory, looks beautiful. I have a pair of horns from a three year old that are going to go to a pair of Bowies, right and left hand in a fast draw rig that will be a challenge to say the least. They have been waiting in my shop for over 20 years.
Moose horn worked right is about as good as antler gets. Write Wayne Goddard in his question and answer in Blade and ask hin how many ways he has worked antler, it will bring a fantastic amount of information to light, he is a real artist working antler.
 
I've got a pretty nice random pattern damascus bowie made by Jerry Kennedy. It's got a moose antler handle, polished almost like ivory. Looks pretty nice to me. I'll try and get a decent pic taken tomorrow, when some good light is available.
 
The part between the shovel and the crown (including the crown) is coveted as a billet by flint knappers. The consistency/weight of moose antlers seem to be perfict for flake removal durring preforming a point. Wanna sell them?
 
My first "real" knife was made with a moose antler handle.


It's standard issue on many scandinavian knives.....(thought Roger would like to hear that part...;)) Roger - you got Bo Bergman's book? - been meaning to ask.....


Moose antler makes for a good spacer too. Just be careful of the marrow - it's quite large inside. It's certainly stiff enough for handle use.....just if you grind past the outside down the marrow....it doesn't finish as well. In fact, you'll need superglue to fill the holes.

I use my lil' moose knife on a daily basis out in my shop - passed it around a dozen or so people over nearly a year's time to have them beat on it. No problems - handle is still solid.

My 0.02
 
thanks for the info guys. there's a whole lot of handle material there. mostly too big for my line of work. i could use some of the tines.
riley: i'll put aside chunk beteen the crown and the shovel for you. drop me an e-mail we can figure it out if you're intersted thanks again guys
 
Daniel, Are you sure that you are talking about Elk antler or Moose antler? Moose antler dose not have marrow in it , it is solid al the way through and will polish up just like Ivory. Elk has a very porous center.
I have heard of Moose antler pans being cooked in a pressure cooker and then pressed between steel plates till cool and dry then used for scales. Gib
 
Gib Guignard said:
Daniel, Are you sure that you are talking about Elk antler or Moose antler? Moose antler dose not have marrow in it , it is solid al the way through and will polish up just like Ivory. Elk has a very porous center.
I have heard of Moose antler pans being cooked in a pressure cooker and then pressed between steel plates till cool and dry then used for scales. Gib
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Gib you have it backward I believe
the palms as it's called on Moose antler, is so porous and pithy it looks like a sponge inside ,,,big air cells
it has a very thin hard surface.. the crown is real nice to work with though.
we don't have elk here,, just white tail, moose and Black Bear..
to get Scales from the palms they will be thin..
the tines are ok to use also good luck with it..I'll post a picture of the inside of some if you guys like?
 
Dan, I went out and checked some Moose palms and you are right, thy are porous but what I have is very fine. What I was told about the cooking and pressing was that it was done just enough to flatten them out, if done to the ones that I have would net a scale 1/2" thick. If I were to do this I would get them to the right size then stabilize them. I saw a set of grips for a six gun done in Elk and thy had cut into the porous part and they ether filled it with super glue or thy were stabilized and they were very nice all polished out.
I use a lot of Elk but you can get a lot of scrap if you are not careful because of the porosity. Gib
 
the palms as it's called on Moose antler, is so porous and pithy it looks like a sponge inside ,,,big air cells
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Well all depends on the circumstances - I've got some moose palms - yes I know what they are that are completely solid - and HARD.
Like most antler - so much depends on: whether the antler came off a live animal or were drops, how old - whether living or dropped, etc.
With moose you'll also find a difference in where it came from - eastern moose, shiras - those found in the Rockies, or the big western Canadian and Alsakan breed. Shiras for instance, have relatively small horns and almost all I've seen when fairly fresh has been quite solid as compared to their eastern and northern brethern
Elk antler, including the tines, is normally somewhat to very much porous, yet I've had frsh elk antler tines that were as solid as most sambar stag. On the other hand I've had sambar that had a 1/4 hole up the center, and so on. One of my favorites is mule deer, usually very solid, but again it all depends on when and where it was aquired. Most antler available these days is drops and so much depends on how quickly after dropping they are picked up i.e. how old they are.
FWIW in some 35 years of working with antler I've learned there really is no hard and fast rules - the only way I know for sure is cut into it and find out..
 
thanks Chuck absolutely I didn't think about eastern and northern differences
and size does matter guys :footinmou :D

Gib I hope you didn't think I was jumping on you,
I would like to see a 1/2" useable slab from Moose palms, I just haven't see them from the criders we have over/up here..
we do have some farm razed Elk here but it's on the pithy side too :( ..
 
I have heard the flat portions of a moose antler called shovels almost exclusively where I’m from (Texas, New Mexico), and most of the people go to the NW not the NE to get them. I wonder if the terms palm, pan, and shovel are regional? Yes Michael, I am interested. I tried to e-mail you but our server wouldn’t do it. I wouldn’t delete any part of the e-mails I’ve received either. I like living 100 miles from anything It’s quiet and all that. But the people that give us phone/internet service are not quite up to the standards and their server sucks.
 
The moose I have been using - mostly for spacers, but did use one for an entire handle - came from Finland. Got it in bulk from a USA distributor for Brisa. Brisa is still around, but Gary is no longer in the business. :(

http://www.brisa.fi/moose3.html
 
Dan, I didn't think you were jumping on me at all, we all learn from these discussions. The Moose Palms that I have came from north of Toronto Canada. Gib
 
Gib Guignard said:
Dan, I didn't think you were jumping on me at all, we all learn from these discussions. The Moose Palms that I have came from north of Toronto Canada. Gib
Click to expand...

I'm glad we got Chuck to keep things straight around here :D :D
u the Man Chuck :D
 
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