Preparing deer antler for a handle

[lobo024]

I'm just starting out knife making and I was conflicted on handle material then the other day my dog brought me a deer antler with 5 points that had a good contour. I was wondering what I should do to prepare the the antler to be made into a knife handle.

 

[rustyrazor]

if your antler is "aged" a while it should be fine as is... let it dry for a year or two if you can and you won't have any problems. If your dog bought you a shed from last year it should make an awesome handle, ive used those for a lot of my knifes as is (i never did anything at all to them) and they have all held up fine. I seal them now with hard wax once the entire handle is finished and i'm happy with the result... one of my favorite looks.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Clean it off with a wire brush and dry it for a while (3-6 months).
Cut it a bit oversize.
Potassium Permanganate ( pool supplies store) can be brushed on the sides to make it darker. It looks bad at first, but after clean-up and some sanding and buffing it is the look most folks expect when they see stag at a show.
Don't paint the crown socket, as it is almost always left white.
Buff lightly with pink or white compound an a linen buff. After the initial buffing, you can lean in a bit harder to darken the high points.
Try all this on some scrap from the shed first, as results vary.

 

[lobo024]

Awesome thanks for the help I guess i'll finish my current knife blank while the stag dries and use it for my next project

 

[rustyrazor]

good plan... that will give you time to admire it for a while and imagine the perfect blade for her. keep it somewhere warm and dry, and as BLADSMTH said cut it oversize if you can to help it dry. once it's on the knife and finished to your liking, i find warming the antler and melting a harder wax (like used in wood turning) to allow it to absorb into the material helps with moisture, but in truth antlers are pretty tough on their own... they spend all their time outdoors after all.