Recommendation? Stag Handle shrinking/gap

[Fonedork]

I've just picked up an old stag handled trailmaster bowie which has about a 1mm gap between the guard and the handle, which I imagine is due to the handle drying out. My plan was to soak it in mineral oil, but having gone a number of threads on the subject it seems like mineral oil is not gonna pump up the stag and close that gap like I was imagining. Then I was considering linseed oil but decided that's probably a bad idea. I'm just hoping for advice, trying to decide whether to try and rehydrate the stag with a humidifier type setup, or fill the gap with epoxy or something else, or just leave it alone. Thanks for reading.

 

[bucketstove]

I've just picked up an old stag handled trailmaster bowie which has about a 1mm gap between the guard and the handle, which I imagine is due to the handle drying out. My plan was to soak it in mineral oil, but having gone a number of threads on the subject it seems like mineral oil is not gonna pump up the stag and close that gap like I was imagining. Then I was considering linseed oil but decided that's probably a bad idea. I'm just hoping for advice, trying to decide whether to try and rehydrate the stag with a humidifier type setup, or fill the gap with epoxy or something else, or just leave it alone. Thanks for reading.

Hi,
Do not soak, enjoy as is, there is no unshrinking possible.

To quote this guy whos been doing it for decades and decades
stag-and-bone.1474833/

I restore cutlery for a living, and I can tell you that you don't want to put oil on stag. Oil discolors and softens stag.
Paste wax- (Johnson's) or neutral shoe polish are what you need to use occasionally. If your stag is especially rough, use a soft bristled shoe brush to polish. If it's relatively smooth a cloth will do to buff it.
If properly applied and buffed, wax will not build up nor leave a haze. Any unwanted wax can be removed with ammonia.

Thanks so much for the info. This just got me to thinking, with the exclusion of a mineral oil soak, what, if anything, can be done about older stag or bone scales that have shrunk away from the bolsters?

To my knowledge, nothing.

In
best-way-to-seal-the-blade-hilt-gap.578667/ he mentions using epoxy or epoxy putty for filling gaps.

A cheaper method mentioned in how-to-seal-around-blade-at-guard.1526063/ is bakingsoda and superglue

 

[Fonedork]

Hi,
Do not soak, enjoy as is, there is no unshrinking possible.

To quote this guy whos been doing it for decades and decades
stag-and-bone.1474833/




In
best-way-to-seal-the-blade-hilt-gap.578667/ he mentions using epoxy or epoxy putty for filling gaps.

A cheaper method mentioned in how-to-seal-around-blade-at-guard.1526063/ is bakingsoda and superglue

Thanks, hadn’t seen either of these. Further down the rabbit hole of old threads...