stag treament

jdm61

jdm61

itinerant metal pounder
Joined
Aug 12, 2005
Messages
47,357
Ok....I just order a few peices of stag and need some help.
What is the best way to gind/sand stag?
What is the best way to finish it to a high polish? (both smooth and "bark" portions)
Can stag be dyed at home or do you have to send it out?
 
Joe, I'll normally use a coarse belt to shape and then hand sand afterwards. I prefer using alcohol based leather dye's to color. Sambar is usually the most difficult to color because it is denser but it will pick up some color. Try putting some dye in a baggy along with the stag and let it soak. It can also be buffed but I prefer sealing it with Watco Teak finish.
 
Joe, I grind/file to shape and then just go up through the grits just like ivory/bone/wood etc. I hand sand it up to 2000x with a hard rubber faced stick prior to buffing.

I only buff stag with white rouge though, as the white won't turn your stag funny colors.

Personally I wouldn't die it myself. If you want to go that route, send it to Culpepper (Mother of Pearl) but that's just me. I've got some killer tapers from AKS that I'm going to send to Culpepper soon.

Show us pics when you can! :D
 
Joe, stag is great stuff to work with. I start out rough shaping with a sharp 60 grit belt. I really only shape the area next to the guard with the belt grinder and I leave plenty of material to shape by hand. I like to go to a rasp next, getting closer to the final shape. It gives me more control and the mistakes are a lot smaller. I then use a file to deal with most of the scratches and backed sand paper, in diminishing grits, after that. With stag sharp tools work best for me. I also use an alcohol based leather dye when dying stag, but mostly I just leave it in its natural state. Some stag is just ugly, but might have a great shape and texture. That is where dying the stag can make a gorgeous knife out of one that didn't pick up the stain naturally.
 
Joe,

I pretty much do like Harry, Nick, and Ray as far as grinding/sanding.

It really helps to have a carefully selected piece of stag to begin with. That way it keeps grinding and sanding to a minimum.

I also use leather dyes. Here are a couple of shots of some Sambar that I dyed.

Robert

DTRain.jpg

Riggins.jpg
 
Robert Dark said:
Joe,

I pretty much do like Harry, Nick, and Ray as far as grinding/sanding.

It really helps to have a carefully selected piece of stag to begin with. That way it keeps grinding and sanding to a minimum.

I also use leather dyes. Here are a couple of shots of some Sambar that I dyed.

Robert

DTRain.jpg

Riggins.jpg
Click to expand...

Good looking job, Robert!!! What colors did you use? I use Fiebings for dying maple quite a bit, so I have a number of bottles around the shop, including some that I blended to get a bit of red tint in my normal dark brown color. How deeply does the dye penetrate stag? That is one advantage with maple in that the spirit dye does not penetrate deeply, so I can stain the wood dark and then rub it out with steel wool until I get the shade I like.
 
NickWheeler said:
Joe, I grind/file to shape and then just go up through the grits just like ivory/bone/wood etc. I hand sand it up to 2000x with a hard rubber faced stick prior to buffing.

I only buff stag with white rouge though, as the white won't turn your stag funny colors.

Personally I wouldn't die it myself. If you want to go that route, send it to Culpepper (Mother of Pearl) but that's just me. I've got some killer tapers from AKS that I'm going to send to Culpepper soon.

Show us pics when you can! :D
Click to expand...

I have a few tapers coming from from Elen. There is one smaller, more slender taper that Alpha has that would probably work VERY well on a smaller knife like the little bowie that I have on my home page. I am lusting after it and will probably puill the trigger if it is still available when I get home tomorrow:D
 
Joe,

I mainly use med. brown or dark brown. I have even tried saddle tan. I usually have a bit of stag that I cut off the handle. I always test on the cut-off first. Then I just play around with the colors until I get something that looks pretty good.

The color doesn't penetrate the stag too deeply. Especially sambar stag. You will run into a few places that it just doesn't want to penetrate at all.

Show us some pics of your dyed stuff when you get a chance.

Robert
 
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