Bone Handle Knife

[cheatherly]

Sorry to keep asking all these questions, but how should one prepare fresh bone to be used as a knife handle? How should it be treated after being fitted? My antler supply is running dry, but I have access to tons of deer, hog, and cow bone. Thanks in advance, Chapter. :bow:

 

[jasontn]

heres what i do i boil mine for about an hour at a roll, then let it cool in the water i boil it in, sometimes you can press bones flatter when you boil them but i havent tried this with the exception of one i did this week, i use the whole section of a deer leg bone. the one i used this week i sanded flat. after they have cooled i soak them in bleach to get out any remaining natural oils. i then fit and pin/epoxy my tang in. i wrap most of the bone handles i do in rawhide and after wrapping i stain it and the bone with minwax walnut stain turns out fair. you can after its all dont put a bit of neatsfoot oil or as i do , wonder lube on the bone to keep it from cracking naturally so bad

 

[paulvallandigham]

Sorry to keep asking all these questions, but how should one prepare fresh bone to be used as a knife handle? How should it be treated after being fitted? My antler supply is running dry, but I have access to tons of deer, hog, and cow bone. Thanks in advance, Chapter. :bow:

After thoroughly cleaning the bones--probably by boiling them-- I would soak them in Neatsfoot oil for a day or so, so that the pores fill with that oil. Then let them dry as you would oiled leather. Then they are ready to cut to shape and pin. Once a year, put another coat of neastfoot oil on the slabes and let them dry. You can use furniture polish to waterproof the bone, and keep the oils in the bone during storage and use. The wax can be cleaned off with a rag soaked in a little rubbing alcohol, before you put another coating of neatsfoot oil on the slabs each year. Re wax, when the handles dry. they may yellow with age, but that is okay. At least they won't split or crack unless you leave them out in direct sunlight.

The problem I have with using either bone, or antler for knife handles is that any sharp blow can take a chunk out of the handle, and ruin very expensive work.The material is fairly fragile, so that is why I am recommending that you soak the slabs or antlers/bone in the neatsfoot oil as soon as you take them out of the boiling water. With boiling the pores open up and that will allow the oil to enter the pores, before they close.

 

[LRB]

When I make deer bone grip, I first fill it with epoxy and a little fiberglass floc, or glass wool. When its dry, I slot the grip about 3/4 of the way with a cutoff wheel mounted in a bench grinder, fit a full width tang in the slot, then double iron pin it. I leave the tang a bit oversize in width, and trim it to the bone using the cutoff wheel, and a grinder. Then I coil wrap deer rawhide around it until it covers all the tang, I dye the bone with leather dye before wrapping, then dye the wrap. Makes a very durable grip, but as paul said, you don't want to drop it on a hard surface. One of these is shown on my site on TRADERS ROW, on this board.

 

[Charles D. Prokopp]

I like to use the doggy chew bones from pet supply stores. The only thing you have to do with those is soak them in wood hardener for a few days, let dry and dye. The marrow shaft gets filled with JB Weld Epoxy.
With raw bone, I've just put it up on the roof for a year, gets bleached out quite nicely. Of course, since I don't usually have a year to spare, boil the bone in water with a little bleach and dish soap. Do this outside. The smell can be ...rousing. :barf: