How to get marrow out of leg bone??

[strask]

I have some leg bones I have found and I want to make a knife handle out of the leg bone (Deer). I am trying to keep the knuckle on one end. I cut it about an inch longer than what I want it to be but now I need to get the marrow out. I was thinking about tying it to a tree and letting ants etc eat it out? Any better ideas? Don't want to cook it out afraid it will weaken the bone.

Scott

 

[paulvallandigham]

Putting the bone in boiling water for a few minutes simply "cooks" the marrow, and that helps remove the stink until it drys enough to be pulled, or scraped out of the bone. When the bone comes out of the water and cools down enough to be touched, cover the bone with a good oil to keep it from drying too much, while you wait for the marrow to dry and shrink. If you put the bone in sunlight, the marrow should dry within a day or two, and then removing the marrow should be easier. There is connective tissue in there, and you may have to dip the bone into boiling water, again, to soften and remove all that tissue.

If you are worried about the strength of the bone, as a handle, you are being astute.

The bone will get more brittle with age, no matter what you put on the outside. However, if you fill the space in the bone with epoxy before inserting the tang, the epoxy will lend a lot of strength to the bone handle, and keep it from moving in relation to the tang as it ages.

That won't protect the bone from chipping off it the knife is dropped on rocks, or concrete, or banged against something solid, but it will help harden the bone for ordinary usage as a handle.

If you are going to use cross pins to hold the bone to the tang, you have to drill the tang holes, and the holes through the bone handle BEFORE you apply the epoxy and glue the bone to the steel tang. The cross pins have to be cut oversize, and tested, and be standing by to insert after the tang is placed into the bone cavity.

Epoxy does squeeze out the pin holes, but can be wiped off with a rag . Put wax on the outside of the bone, so that any unwanted epoxy does not adhere to the bone where it will be seen. Wax is a release agent.

Have fun with your project. Some bone handles are truly elegant. A couple of our knife makers here have produced blades with Jawbones as handles.

 

[tg]

Check with your local taxidermist there is a chemical that aids in the dissolving of tissue from bone that they use when preping skulls, one may give/sell you some or point you in the direction of a source.

 

[John Wasmuth]

Right TG, you can order a "Bleaching Kit" from Vandykes taxidermy supply company. Uses 40 peroxyde and basic white. You can assist the bowling water by adding a little soap powder to the boil, or washing soda.

 

[rich pierce]

I have thought but have no evidence that boiling bone weakens it. Just something I worry about and so I like to work raw bone. I use a rough half-round rasp to hog out as much stuff as I can then hang the bone from a wire through it and let it air out and sun bleach. If birds peck on it, so much the better.

I use home-made cutler's resin to fill the cavity and in general for patching things. This is rendered and strained pine pitch, mixed with 1/4 volume beeswax and 1/8 volume powdered charcoal or powdered sawdust etc depending on the color you want. You can increase the "filler" to 1/4 volume compared to the pitch and it will be less adhesive and more "packy". I recommend a "packy mix" for filling the handle cavity on "stick tang" knives. It's 100% authentic; mixes like this have been used by cutlers and native peoples for centuries.

If you make some of this stuff do not catch yourself on fire or drip it on anything and get that on fire for it will burn like the dickens.

Globbing up the end of a popsicle stick or clean hardwood stick with this stuff will give you a "patch kit" to take on treks and adventures. It can patch or mend tents, water pails, powder horns, loose ax handles, cracked tool handles, etc. Just heat it up over a fire till it's dripping onto the area that needs patching. Then carefully heat that until it runs in really well then squash the surfaces together.

This stuff smeared on small sticks makes it easier to start a fire in the wet also. Burns mighty hot.

 

[strask]

Thanks to all great ideas as always from everyone!!! :bow: Will post some pics when I get done!!

 

[StevePrice2]

hey Digger,

YOUR idea actually works quite well. I recently cut off some road kill mulie legs and cut them in half and set them on a rock in the sun near an ant bed. They did the job nicely and mr sunshine helped dry the oil and bleach the bones, too. It was not an 'instant' job like chemical or mechanical means but nature's way works. looking forward to seeing the results.

Steve

PS- one bone did 'walk' away one night though...lol! I suppose a mutt came by for a snack. oh well.

 

[BrownBear]

Know of any dermestid beetle colonies in your area? Works like the ants, but FAST.

I had to laugh at myself though, when reading the title to your post. My first reaction was "ball peen hammer." I was thinking more of my stomach than knife handles, and that big old hunk of marrow out of the legs bones is a prize on the table. But the bone fragments I leave behind would best be called a "kit" for making leg bone handles. Lots of glue and experience with jigsaw puzzles required!