Suitability of Cast-Off Antlers For Knife Handles?

V

VorpelSword

Gold Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2007
Messages
1,694
I am asking about the suitability of freshly cast off antlers found in the woods for use as handle material in knife making.

The White Tail season will be ending in Michigan soon and a friend of mine there lives on a tract of land in a rural area. Last year and the year before as well, he harvested bucks with noteworthy racks. He already has a neck and head mount over the fireplace and his wife has put her foot down on more taxidermy. He is talking about mailing me several largish pieces for knife making and that is a good thing.

With that said, I am asking: What is the suitability of shed or cast off antlers as handle material that he may find on his property after the season ends?
 
Last edited:
Shed antlers are fine for knife handles. Most of the stag handles you see are from shed antlers.
In general, whitetail deer antlers are not particularly desirable. They are small and lack texture for the most part.

Even sun bleached antlers can be dyed and used, if they have good texture.
 
Whitetail is fine. Your best pieces are going to be from the base at the crown as those are straightest and have the best texture. Unless the racks are exceptionally large most of the pieces above that will be too curvy. I've gotten some nice pieces out of the area where they branch as well (if they're straight). The smaller the knife the more you can salvage.

Eric
 
I have used 100's of whitetail antlers. People give them to me all the time. I make something cool for them from it and they just keep bringing me more. I use the crown end as well as the tips. I cut them up and put in boxes for when I need a small stag handle or tine. The crown end makes a nice small to medium hunter handles and the too-small ones make perfect patch knife handles.
I put some photos below for ideas. A mountain-man folder, a small hunter or patch knife from a scrap file and a small branched crown. I used an old shell casing for the butt plate to peen the tang on. All these were from free antlers.

Ideas:
Use small crown handles for the handles on fire starter rods. Purchase 4" Fero (ferocerium) rods, drill the end to fit, epoxy the rod in. Drill a hole through just before the crown and put a leather lanyard with the striker/scraper through the hole.

The tine tips make great pegs for key, hat, and coat racks.

Cut into discs, the antler makes buttons for gear or sheaths.

The crown end of a shed that isn't usable because of shape or damage can be cut off and used as a drawer knob/pull.

Give the sheds a clean up on a flap sanding wheel or a scotch-brite wheel. Potassium Permanganate or leather dye can add color to the sheds. There are hundreds of online articles and past BF threads about dying antler.

For a coat/hat/key rack, take a piece of 3"X12"X.75" piece of attractive wood. Finish it as desired with stain and or varnish. Cut the tines off the rack about 4"-5" long and grind the cut ends to be round so they will fit in a drilled hole. They don't all have to be identical. Drill holes all the way through the wood in the appropriate places , being sure to have the holes at a slight angle so the tips will point upward a bit. I probably drill at 15-20°. Use drill bits that will allow the tines to fit the hole. Put epoxy in the hole, insert tine all te way, and when cured, sand the backside flush. Drill two screw holes in the wood for mounting. These look great in the house or shop, sell like hotcakes, and make super gifts. I make three sizes - coat racks, hat racks, and key racks. The key racks are very popular. On coat and hat racks, I sometimes use hole antlers with only one branch, or spike-buck antlers.


mountain man folder.jpg20250811_124345.jpg20250811_124348.jpg20250811_181407.jpg20250811_123741.jpg20250811_154455.jpg20250811_141409.jpg
 
I've used the tines for paring & steak knives. The crown pieces are best for larger knives. Between the stench and the soft pith its not a "prefered" handle material. I have made a few using the antler's from people's "first buck" but I don't go out of my way to use it.
 
You can darken them with potasium permanganate (wear gloves!)
It can turn behhh antler in good looking scales
 
Sheds work great for handle material. Best if they’re not too fresh. Let em age a bit. I’ve used a few whitetail sheds but mostly I use elk. Like Stacy, I've traded things for sheds and they just keep showing up. The PP that Hengelo mentioned is also a disinfectant and I use it on all my scales whether they are bleached white, (by the sun), or not. INn this group of ten that I'm currently working on there are five with elk:

ha4ce2n.jpg


I keep the sheds on top of one of the safe's in the shop:

rhZKizv.jpg
 
kc custom said:
I've pretty much used them all whitetail, elk, red deer. Sheds are fine, one of the most bullet proof handle materials out there
aside from synthetics.

Ken
Click to expand...
I’d have to agree on the durability. I do not recall ever fixing a handle from a shed. I’ve fixed sheephorn, buffalo horn, bone and a few wood handles but never one from a shed.
 
Sheds work great for knife handles, Whitetail crowns in particular are my first choice when making Scagel style replicas. Stacy is right about not using fresh antlers, I like to let them sit for about a year or so before using them, to help reduce issues with shrinkage.

uuid=B01AF5E5-514A-4ABF-972C-2C8243498972&code=001&library=1&type=1&mode=1&loc=true&cap=true.jpeg
 
I was blessed with a trip 8 years in the making this year and archery hunted a friends ranch in Iowa this Fall. He showed me has an entire trailer full of sheds he doesnt know what he is going to do with. I told him I would make him and his son a knife with a couple sheds as a thank you.

My question is do you need to stabilize them at all prior to using or are they good if they have been sitting for a year or so? Just want to make sure I give him something quality that will last as I have never worked with antlers for handle material before.
 
I have never stabilized any. Just make sure they are seasoned. If too fresh the pith will kind of be filled in.
 
I just wire brush them clean and cut to the usable handle length ... and put them in a box.

One fellow says he cuts to size, grinds off any unnecessary places/points/bumps, brushes off well with a wire brush, and gives it a good coat of cream style paste way, rubbing it in well and leaving the excess on. He stacks them in a sealed bin for storage. He does all the finishing and such when building a knife with the stag.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top