Why don't we contour stag?

pootsythesamurai

pootsythesamurai

Joined
Aug 21, 2006
Messages
501
I love stag it is my favourite handle material but recently I have found myself leaning towards wood more and more often. I love a good contoured wood handle - the endless possibilities of working that piece of wood to have something specifically tailored for work in the hand.

I've seen ivory contoured, wood contoured, but I don't think I've ever seen stag contoured and was wondering why? I've been drawing up some designs for future projects recently and this question popped back into my mind so thought where better to ask it.

So why don't we contour stag? Is it just a pith issue?
 
I have contoured it. The pith can be an issue.

11454413735_7f4d4fa1f1_z.jpg
[/url]100_2283 by Wjkrywko, on Flickr[/IMG]

This one is from a while back. I have been much more meticulous in my finishing as I have gained more experience.
 
That is a contoured stag handle for Fallkniven WM1 I made.


And for Busse Assault Shaker

Samek
 
Hey, Philip.
The beautiful aspect of stag in my opinion is the look and feel of the bark or outer layer of it.
In grinding that away you lose much of the character and desirability.
That's why when you find a taper that feels and looks right without taking off the texture, you
better get it because they're not all like that.... It's what makes a stag handle a good stag handle.

Tad
 
Tad Lynch said:
Hey, Philip.
when you find a taper that feels and looks right without taking off the texture, you
better get it
Click to expand...

I agree. The taper and texture of stag is what makes it great. If you contour it, you tend to remove its greatness, IMO.
 
Yea. That's what I was thinking in my head. You work so hard to find a great taper and then you'd be shooting yourself in the foot. I was just think how it could be a really intriguing combination of textures if you found a piece that it wouldn't be so risky with.

These thoughts that run through your head.

I generally agree with Tad that if it's good in it's normal natural state you'd be better leaving it alone.
 
My thought is because people do not want to see the gray yuck stuff (I mean pith). I cringe when I see a good looking knife that is ground down to the gray behind the guard to make it fit. Or more commonly when a tine is ground away with a crown piece. It just looks wrong.
Tad and Jason expressed themselves a lot nicer than I did. So..... "what they said".
 
To me, the more white or even amber that is showing, the more it looks like you tried to force a piece that was not altogether suitable for the knife fit it. The thing that I have said about stage carvers/tapers for a number of years is that, in many cases, it is one of the few raw handle materials that you essential design and build a knife around the handle opposed to building the handle around the knife. I would say that walrus tusk and particular native "artifact" pieces is another.
 
Tad Lynch said:
Hey, Philip.
The beautiful aspect of stag in my opinion is the look and feel of the bark or outer layer of it.
In grinding that away you lose much of the character and desirability.
That's why when you find a taper that feels and looks right without taking off the texture, you
better get it because they're not all like that.... It's what makes a stag handle a good stag handle.
Tad
Click to expand...

I'm with you Tad.
Good Stag is the only Perfect handle material, ;) that needs nothing/or very little. :thumbup:
 
Stag is certainly not my favorite of handle materials, but stag is nonetheless beautiful, unless one would, indeed, start contouring it - which takes away all that stag presents to the eye in the form of beauty.
 
Stag has always been my handle material of choice but recently getting wood and contoured handles I love the control that you get from that sculpted handle and it just got me thinking about how that could be an interesting handle choice or design if there was a piece of stag that leant itself to such a design.

Saying that though ruining good stag for the sake of trying that would be well very bad... :P
 
i think the core of moose lends itself to sculpting more than deer...i haven't worked with it but some of the loc's do nice carved handles with it...
 
Stag, the ultimate handle material.
JDM's comment is right on. The stag determines the piece.
Personally, if the pith is showing it is time to move on.
That includes dyed stag. The dye tends to hide the less than appealing (to me, YMMV) transition area between the antler wall and the pith.

If you look at knives from the 80's there were more contoured stag handles and stag that was ground down almost smooth, making it look 'sort of' ivory like.

An 80s-esque Herron inspired Denning.


I think this has a lot to do with the quality of the stag, then and now.
There is much more versatility with thick walled stag with a small pith core.

The stag I've seen since a couple years after the Indian embargo is very thin walled.

Look at the thick walls on this antique…

And those are slabs…

Won't find stag for this price any more…
 
The so-called "Sambar Stag" available today is not the same as the Indian Sambar Stag of what was available decades ago. Either the deer interbred or it simply isn't true Indian Sambar.

I've spent thousands of dollars buying material over the years, time, research -all to find stag that I could actually grind and have reached these personal conclusions (they're personal so take it with a grain of salt):

1. Sambar Deer are on many continents -perhaps the stuff commonly available in the US these days isn't from India ... ;)

2. The antler sold as "Sambar" commonly available today can't be ground to the extent of past stag -you'll get this grayish "stone" color or variation in white tones through the material. Hence, the development of hidden fasteners so that the stag wouldn't need to be ground.

3. Look at knives made in the 60's and 70's -the "character" and the "density" of the stag is markedly different.

Here's a Semi-Skinner that I made a while back which had a contoured handle with some verified Indian sambar of yesteryear:



The stag is very white in color (more white than the photo), almost like Ivory, with character. Cutting and machining were also more difficult as the material is much denser. I don't recommend this, but you could probably drop and not damage it.

-Just my 2 cents. :thumbup:
 
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