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Thread: Need your help

  1. #1
    Senior Member gcckoka's Avatar
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    Default Need your help

    Hello everyone I need your help , I am making my first knife with roe leg handle, its been drying for 3 months since I hunted it , today I made a hole for the tang to go in and under 1cm of dry turned out it is still wet inside with bone brain , I took it all out and salted the whole hole inside , how long will it take until I can use it as a handle?IMG_1822.jpgIMG_1822.jpg
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  2. #2
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    There's a bunch of stuff I've thought of to use for knife handles, a rotting deer leg isn't one of them.

    I would imagine that there is some kind of taxidermy that should have taken place almost immediately after the dismemberment of the deer. Hair on tanning and then reattachment of the hide/hoof to a real knife handle.

    But, to thoroughly dry the deer leg into handle material on it's own might take a while (a year) if kept in very dry conditions. By then the hair might slip or the tissue in the hoof rot and the hoof itself slough off.

    Alan

  3. #3
    Senior Member kyratshooter's Avatar
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    I am surprised that Alan did not tell you to find a fire ant hill and place the bone there for the ants to clean it up for you!

    I have dozens of knives with natural bone handles. Some are 20-30 years old and I have worked with many knives in the museum that were hundreds of years old.

    I hafted a sword with a bone handle made from a deer I killed 25 years ago and fitted a knife with a handle from the same deer and both are still in use today.

    Natural bone was once a preferred handle material for both knives and pistols, before it was replaced by plastic.

    Clean the bone as much as possible. Dig out as much of the marrow (bone brain as you called it) as possible.

    Place it in a pot of boiling water for a few minutes. Just a few minutes, not hours.

    Place the bone in a bucket with about 3 liters of water and a spoon of bleach. Let is soak for a few hours, then allow it to dry.

    If you want a nice aged dark color on the bone soak it is a solution of potassium permigate for a few hours or overnight. You can also cover the bone with a salt paste and bake it for a few minutes to get a change in color.

    Bone will also take many shades of dye with good effect. as you use the knife the dye will wear away and leave a very individualized piece of equipment.

    You can also "stabilize" bone with polymers, like they do with wood, but it is really not necessary.

    Unstabilized bone will last for thousands of years in its natural state. Most museums have large exhibits of bones that have been reassembled from mice to mammoths and cave men in between.
    Last edited by kyratshooter; 03-31-2019 at 11:36 AM.
    If you didn't bring jerky what did I just eat?

  4. #4
    Senior Member gcckoka's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by kyratshooter View Post
    I am surprised that Alan did not tell you to find a fire ant hill and place the bone there for the ants to clean it up for you!

    I have dozens of knives with natural bone handles. Some are 20-30 years old and I have worked with many knives in the museum that were hundreds of years old.

    I hafted a sword with a bone handle made from a deer I killed 25 years ago and fitted a knife with a handle from the same deer and both are still in use today.

    Natural bone was once a preferred handle material for both knives and pistols, before it was replaced by plastic.

    Clean the bone as much as possible. Dig out as much of the marrow (bone brain as you called it) as possible.

    Place it in a pot of boiling water for a few minutes. Just a few minutes, not hours.

    Place the bone in a bucket with about 3 liters of water and a spoon of bleach. Let is soak for a few hours, then allow it to dry.

    If you want a nice aged dark color on the bone soak it is a solution of potassium permigate for a few hours or overnight. You can also cover the bone with a salt paste and bake it for a few minutes to get a change in color.

    Bone will also take many shades of dye with good effect. as you use the knife the dye will wear away and leave a very individualized piece of equipment.

    You can also "stabilize" bone with polymers, like they do with wood, but it is really not necessary.

    Unstabilized bone will last for thousands of years in its natural state. Most museums have large exhibits of bones that have been reassembled from mice to mammoths and cave men in between.
    Thanks for the advice but what I am trying to make is with hair on , like these

    1455372419126320966.jpg73107437.jpg
    Check out my survival youtube channel : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCup...cRQ3O29ZB7Ybiw

  5. #5
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    I'd think those legs were skinned cured and attached to a hafted blade.


    Alan

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