My trouble with stag

[DaveHS]

 

[meako]

FIrst go at antler scales.
Rusa shed many years old.
Rusa are genetically close to Sambar.
I did it all by hand ..fret saw,files and sandpaper.
The old beater Excalibur had hard rubber type scales that were mostly disintegrated.
You can see the pitfall (pithfall if you will) of exposed pith..the spongy material next to liners just soaks up dirt . ...I'm pleased to have the actual sides nice and shiny...I used autosol.
Do I get the job?




We'll call ya...NEXXT.

 

[Hickory n steel]

With scales as thin as are used on a folder ya not gonna see a lot of pith regardless of the animal it came off of. So I'm just not sure on the stability thing. How long has the shed aged I think is more important to the stability.

I'd agree with Hickory that some of those black lines look like buffing gunk getting down in there.

At least not when it's done right, which to me means taking as much material off the underside as possible so you don't have to do much tapering down to the bolsters, most of the pith should be gone.
A lot of the more affordable traditional knives from Germany, Sheffield England, and of course China often use a fat chunk heavily tapered down to the bolsters.
I wouldn't be surprised to see a lot of pith inside if you took the scales off one of these.

Obviously I am not an expert and I don't know the proper techniques for working with stag, I learned quite a bit with the 3 knives I re-handled in stag though.