Making Bone Buttons

[Ivery Keys]

I am trying to make a few bone buttons for my pouches and various other projects, but am finding them too brittle to work with. Any hints about how to make them more workable? These are bleached bovine bones I picked up out of the pasture we call cemetery hill (where dead large animals go to decompose)

Thanks,

Ivery

 

[musketman]

If you boil then they should become workable, then let then dry out again once you are done...

I made buttons from deer antlers with good results, never worked with true bone before...

 

[onefeather]

if you go to a pet store and get a big cow leg bone they are already bleached and all you have to do is cut with a hack saw or band saw ect. and they are plenty thick and i have made arrow heads buttons knives knife handles ect ect from them and all you have to do is drill a hole or two and they work fine :front:

 

[Rebel]

I think you will fid that antler is easier to work with for buttons. Take a deer antler the diameter you want, and cut it into the thickness you want. :front:

 

[onefeather]

i think it would have been easier to make a button from bone than antler well mabey not but bone looks nicer than antler :front:

 

[Rebel]

Atually, it is really easy to make antler buttons, and they look real nice if you polish them up some.

 

[onefeather]

yes i know i have made them but from what i hear they were not very common back then bone was more common but hey its :m2c: :front:

 

[Wart]

Some of the nicest bone buttons I made were from a bleeched out shoulder blade from a cow.
I roughed cut the shape - sanded round, then used a belt sander on the pithy side. After that, I buffed it. You would swear your looking at a moral mushrum.
One word of caution though - watch your fingers, grinding and sanding :shocking:

 

[Ivery Keys]

Gentlemen, thanks for all the replies. Since I have a whole pasture full of bones I hate to go buy them. I like the shoulder idea, the way I can find a skeleton is that the pelvis bone sticks up above the grass. May try making some out of pelvis too, and maybe rib. I am not sure Daily Late will let me boil these things inside, she got a good whiff while I was cutting them to size and left the property. May have to boil them outside and try that. Once again, thanks for the insights...

Regards to all,

Ivery

 

[SilverBear]

One other warning, watch out for the dust. That can get very nasty

Tony

 

[Black Hand]

I like leather for buttons. Cut out the size you want, infiltrate them with melted wax (I use a candle and a toaster oven) then allow to cool. Scrape off the excess wax, drill holes and you're ready to go. Very quick and much easier to make than bone buttons. On the other hand, if you want bone buttons, I would use as fresh a bone as possible, as the structure starts to break down when exposed to the elements for long.
Black Hand