Red Deer Antler

george tichbourne

george tichbourne

Joined
Apr 19, 1999
Messages
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I have been playing with some red deer antler (red deer is the European variety of stag that has been used for hundreds of years as knife handles) and am impressed by it. The inner is a bright white like sambar but the outer texture is not as pronounced, at least on the samples that I have in house. The outer shell is fairly thick and the best part is that the porous core of the antler is bright white instead of the tan colour that sambar tends to have.

The farmer who grows the antler for the Korean velvet market is coming to town in a few weeks and we will be sitting down to talk business. What questions would you ask that could help me decide whether or not to add antler supply to my knife business?

Does anyone know of any regulations that would prevent shipping of farm raised antler into the US? This stuff is not covered by CITES and the deer is not harmed in harvesting the antler.
 
Hi George,
I have a rack of the red stag that I am saving for a special project.
Nice looking stuff. Is you're supplier providing whole horn or cut slabs? I dont see where there should be any restrictions, but I dont really understand the sambar stag problem either.
Mark
 
I have just received a couple of Red Deer antlers and I find them very close to Sambar stag. I got mine from Steve Pryor, aka;knifemaker 01, on CKD and KFC, good price great service.
 
I understand red deer and Elk to be about the same species. What is the difference in the antler?

Lynn
 
Red deer, sambar and elk have racks that look pretty much the same, long main beams that reach well down the back of the animal. The little elk that I have seen is a little thinner shelled than the red deer that I have and a little more on the tan side instead of white inside.

What I am going to do is build a complete set of hunters with the red deer and post them on my site. The smoother surface will probably look better than the rough sambar on smaller knives.

If we can strike a deal I will supply crowns, scales, rounds and tapers. With a little judicious cutting I will be able to supply larger chunks for pistol grips as well.
 
Geogre, if i recall correctly the antlers have to be taken of a live animal to be velvet. these are the blood vessels that grow the antler. they shed the antler after rutting and the velvet is long gone. i dont think this will not make a differents as long as it is not a protected (endangered) spieces. elephant, rhino, etc.
 
Breeding stock are allowed to drop their antler naturally. The rest of the stock have the antler removed while still in the velvet.
 
ok, i get it now! boy it is amazing what people will buy (us inculed):eek: so asian's use the velvet as some kind of medicine? is this for ingrown toe nails or in the bedroom stuff?:D
 
If you read the literature it is good for just about anything that ails you. It has been used for a couple of thousand years so it is not a flash in the pan.
 
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