Selecting Stag on traditionals...

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One of our fellow knife people, currently MIA, sent me some spikes of Red Deer antlers from NZ, several years ago. I had a respected knife artisan/mechanic put some on this Diamond Jack back then.
No names are mentioned because I am unsure of the allowability of all this. The antlers were not treated with Potassium Permanganate (PP), nor were they flame treated, but I treated them with methyl alcohol, to protect our environment.
The Red Deer is the fourth largest deer worldwide, behind the Moose, Elk and Sambar, and are very plentiful in NZ. They were introduced several generations ago, along with several other species. The samples I got, along with several other examples I have seen, have a lot of "popcorn"-like feature to them.
I conFess I have seen pictures of the stash these handles came from, and it looks like an old Sheffield cutlery "Stag Room!!:rolleyes: I wonder how they would look if treated with PP??
Maybe NZ would be a renewable source (there are Sambar there also!!) in future years!!??
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meako said:
Hey mate
They are closely related.
Rusa smaller beast but has large antlers.
They are very solid with a pithy soft core.
A good sized piece can be split by sawing.
I go slow with a hack saw.
One disadvantage is the brow tine. It kind if gets in the way of the crown if using as a feature.Unlike Red deer the antlers dont seem to grow new point each season. They get to 3 and just get bigger.
There reports/myths of a sambar rusa hybrid in nw vic.
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Looks good mate - about the same density as Sambar antler. Rusa may be another option for good quality stag handles in future. I think they tend to be a little thinner in the beam than Sambar, albeit usually longer, as you said.

Yeah the form of Sambar antlers is pretty basic - just a brow tine and a trey tine usually. Nothing like a spectactular, fully crowned, 'imperial' Red deer set of antlers.

This custom hunting knife made by Melbourne knifemaker, Christian Mathieson features Rusa antler, IIRC:

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Yeah, I've heard those reports of wild Sambar/Rusa crosses too, up around the high country New South Wales-Victoria border.

Here's some small Sambar heads. I swapped the two larger sets with Christian Mathieson for a two day knifemaking lesson.

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Christian made this piece in san mai damascus, with VG10 core steel out of one of the sets:

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waynorth said:
One of our fellow knife people, currently MIA, sent me some spikes of Red Deer antlers from NZ, several years ago. I had a respected knife artisan/mechanic put some on this Diamond Jack back then.
No names are mentioned because I am unsure of the allowability of all this. The antlers were not treated with Potassium Permanganate (PP), nor were they flame treated, but I treated them with methyl alcohol, to protect our environment.
The Red Deer is the fourth largest deer worldwide, behind the Moose, Elk and Sambar, and are very plentiful in NZ. They were introduced several generations ago, along with several other species. The samples I got, along with several other examples I have seen, have a lot of "popcorn"-like feature to them.
I conFess I have seen pictures of the stash these handles came from, and it looks like an old Sheffield cutlery "Stag Room!!:rolleyes: I wonder how they would look if treated with PP??
Maybe NZ would be a renewable source (there are Sambar there also!!) in future years!!??
View attachment 852633 View attachment 852634 View attachment 852635
Click to expand...
Yeah I remember that photo
The whole building was built of massive antlers . I wonder about our friend and hope he is OK.
 
meako said:
Yeah I remember that photo
The whole building was built of massive antlers . I wonder about our friend and hope he is OK.
Click to expand...
If I remember, a few good-natured insults would flow between Oz and NZ!!:)
I hope he's good too!!

Thanks Jeff and Christian!!:thumbsup:
 
Nice series of Stags, PT-Luso!! Thanks for showing us!!

One of these days you are going to convert me to Fixed Blades, Dave!!:eek:
Nice pair of knives!!
 
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