bone knife blade

[Chris]

I have some bone questions. Hold all laughter until the end.

When I was a kid after a rainstorm I found a reddish brown femur? bone sticking up out of a riverbank. I've kept it and still have it. It has dried up, and bits of the outter shell near the "knee" have come off, inside it looks like a honeycomb.

This is a nice bone knife from the late 1800s.

http://www.neaca.com/images/Bowie_Kn...s_Grip_1a_.JPG

Modernly though, all you seem to find are bone knife handle scales, flats to go on either side of a pocket knife, not a nice round "dowel" piece like that.

I did find this, http://www.knifehandles.com/prehistoric-bison-bone.html which looks a lot like the bone I have, but polished and shiny.

So I'm wondering, could you make a bone handle like the knife above, out of a bone like that bone?

It seems like as you shaped it you'd grind away the outer layer and get to that honeycomb stuff underneath, which wouldn't seem right.

But I know nothing of working with bone.

[crashdive123]

Yes you can. The honeycomb part is where the marrow was. It is not unlike using an antler for a handle. Stabilizing it would be helpful, or depending on the size of the marrow cavity it may need to be filled to make it a sturdy handle. Here is a picture of a knife where a very small gator jaw bone was used and red epoxy was used to fill the cavities. You can see where the teeth used to be.

Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.

[Winter]

You need to have a bone that the outside diameter is proper grip size so you don't have to grind any away. Epoxy will fill most of the honeycomb marrow bit.

So, yes, you can make a handle.

[Chris]

The knife in the picture didn't seem to have any epoxy (and its from the 1800s so...), did they just find a bone the exact right size then or what?

[Winter]

Maybe.
Glue has been used in knifemaking since the beginning. Of course the better the fit the better.

[crashdive123]

The knife in the picture didn't seem to have any epoxy (and its from the 1800s so...), did they just find a bone the exact right size then or what?

Maybe.
Glue has been used in knifemaking since the beginning. Of course the better the fit the better.

Also - for the knife in the pic, the bone can't go anywhere. The brass guard and butt cap, if tightly fit will prevent any movement.

[Pocomoonskyeyes3]

Something else to keep in mind when working with natural bone. It can be "Softened" a bit by soaking in vinegar. As a Kid we used to make "Rubber chicken bones" this way. They would bend some and flex. After they dried out, it was just another chicken bone.