What to do with this stag?

[fast14riot]

So I bought this at my local fleamarket last week. It is some truely gnarly stag! I don't have interest in mounting it, but was wondering if I should cut it into scales or if it can be used as hidden tang handles? I may be interested in selling it (after I upgrade my membership, of course), but would like to get the most out of it.

-Xander

 

[tryppyr]

Looks usable (if not comfortably so) to me. If you want to use them for hidden tang, I'd recommend stabilizing them. Are you planning on "aging" them with Potassium Permanganate oe leaving them natural?

 

[fast14riot]

I might age it with PP, but probably won't until I figure out what I'm doing with it.

Btw, is this true Sambar Stag?


-Xander

 

[Hengelo_77]

My vote is to use it for a hidden tang, but not darken it.
Sand down the popcorns and leave the beautifull white/light brown action you get.
Use the whidest part of the antler as the rear of the handle.

You could make a beautifull traditional styled knife

A bit like this:

 

[Horsewright]

To tell if its really Sambar or not you are gonna have to cut it. Not too near the tip either. Sambar will have a lot of solid antler in the cross section and a very small pithy section. Other stag will be the opposite. You will have a 1/4" of solid on the outside or so and a lot of pith. True Sambar could be just a single vein down the center. Axis stag will be similar to Sambar. Just about everything else will be real pithy. Nice stag by the way.

 

[NStricker]

From the shape of the tines, and being that you are in CA, my guess is that it's blacktail deer, not Sanbar.

 

[PARKERKNIVES]

The popcorn texture is very much like Rusa which is a close cousin of Sambar. The inside will be exactly like Sambar , almost solid all the way threw. What ever you do with it I'm sure you will end up with a few really nice handles.
Cheers . Adam.