Stag handle practicality ?

[eveled]

This picture shows how little pith SAMBAR has.

 

[Oldnretired]

This picture shows how little pith SAMBAR has.

Yes, that's how my Axis rounds look on the ends.

 

[crufflers]

 

[ShaiHulud]

They smooth out with age and constant handling. Last a long time, lots of knives made in them in the wild West era. Though I'm no expert. I prefer artificial materials

 

[eveled]

Nice knife! Is the crown knob dyed black and gnarly looking? I sanded mine down.

 

[crufflers]

Nice knife! Is the crown knob dyed black and gnarly looking? I sanded mine down.

It is still on its way to me.

 

[eveled]

Here is how my 119 started.

It was very porous and rough. It seemed dyed. I didn’t like it. So I cleaned it up a little.

They used really nice pieces of stag on these.

 

[dman62]

My favorite handle material if it’s a nice piece. Pretty hard to get the good stuff now since India banned exports. I’m going to carry my Great Eastern 78 in honor of this thread OP.

 

[Ciscocbc]

Question.
What is more durable horn or antler?

 

[Arathol]

Question.
What is more durable horn or antler?

Stag.

 

[JPD1998]

Stag is my favorite organic material for knife handles. I have knives, like the dagger below, that are over 40 years old and show little to no wear.
It's very stable and durable.

I made the mistake years ago of assuming cow and ram's horn would be just as stable as stag, but as pointed out, they're quite different in their makeup.
Horn always seems to want to return to its curved shape or shrink from drying out.

 

[Horsewright]

Here is how my 119 started.

It was very porous and rough. It seemed dyed. I didn’t like it. So I cleaned it up a little.

They used really nice pieces of stag on these.

Difficult to find Sambar with just the single vein hole these days. I've read that the Sambar has been crossbreeding with other deer and losing this trait. Then again I've also read that they're losing it through line breeding. Quien Sabe? Yep its been dyed, with Potassium Permanganate. PP acts as disinfectant and creates as a by product the dark color we all love on stag or elk or any other antler material. I use to use enough Sambar that when I could (in between bans), I was importing it myself. It has all been treated with PP. I switched to elk some years back. Kinda like this:

This PP soloution bath was weak. Been used a lot. Tends to yield a more brownish color when weak instead of the blackish color. Last time I used this one. Made up a new soloution.

Soak for 30 minutes then let them dry.

Hit em with a clear coat and let them dry again.

Time to go to work:

 

[crufflers]

Here is how my 119 started.

It was very porous and rough. It seemed dyed. I didn’t like it. So I cleaned it up a little.

They used really nice pieces of stag on these.

Mine does look like that, yup. Pretty sweet 119.

 

[eveled]

Nice . They were a Copper and Clad exclusive. I don’t know how many were made, but they had them for a long time.

I remember wondering how many pieces of crown sambar stag could they possibly have? Lol.

 

[AussieEdge1]

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I put these on 8 or 9 years ago. No changes except it gets better...more caramel colored.
I slosh mineral oil on it about twice a year. I use this knife too. It did a deer nicely, and not too slick, even in blood.

Beautiful !!!!! Not a huge stag fan, but I'd snap that up in a second .

 

[AussieEdge1]

Have a few stag handles in my collection, and always wondered about this question too. I mean, I would think stag scales on a full tang would be very durable, but always wondered how good a full stag handle on a large knife with hidden tang would really be under hard use...would worry about cracking. Not that any of mine will be subjected to that, but was always curious.

View attachment 1056611

2nd from top. Trail master!? Stag handle -

 

[jlauffer]

2nd from top. Trail master!? Stag handle -

Yep!