Anyone work Deer Antlers by hand?

[Bob Jones]

I am working on a tool cabinet right now, so I figure it is a good time to experiment with new techniques. I am thinking it might be neat to try using deer antlers in some way. Either door handles, or machining little bits to make sone kind of simple inlay design. Has anyone ever worked deer antlers with hand tools? I did a quick search, but only found hits in the "turners" forum. Thanks in advance for any tips!

[bridger berdel]

I've worked with it a fair bit. it's harder than most woods, but works fine with steel tools, saws, rasps, sandpaper kind of processes.
smells kinda funky when working it.
the core is spongy. it works out best when you need something that is about the shape it already is. it makes really good handles. it's pretty strong, stronger than most woods. glues OK with epoxy and CA.

[Chris Fournier]

Yes, deer and caribou. Also bone - cattle femurs are great. The stuff is very hard but works well with hand tools. The dust is very bad for us humans so either have a water mist going whilst you machine it or wear a mask. It will polish up to a very fine finish. The outside "rind" is useful, the core is waste.

[Larry Matchett]

I use them for handles on shop cabinets. I drill and tap them for the screws just like you would for any other handmade handles. I don't put any finish on them as they are not exposed to the wx.

[Richard Shaefer]

I tried using antler once, but couldn't handle the smell of the cut material. It's too close to the burning smell of a root canal.

[russell lusthaus]

I use antler quite often as an overlay material to resist wear on the tips of bows. It definitely smells like root canal when you machine it. I use super glue to harden the inner spongy core, and then, once hard, glue it in place with Titebond II or III. Machines well with all tools - I cut to size on the band saw and then use rasps and sand paper from there.

Russ

[Del Hollingsworth]

Is antler actually toxic as some people warn? I see reeferences to that from time to time, but I don't know if it is true, or merely urban legend.

[Bob Jones]

Thanks for the tips. i may give it a go.

I doubt they are toxic. Since they are bone, i would think they are primarily calcium, but i guess i don't know for certain. i think handles may be the best thing to try first.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

I've worked a bit of bone. I've no idea of the toxicity of it, but it strikes me as similar to pearl in that it's just a really really fine abrasive and clingy dust - the sort of stuff that goes right into your lungs and irritates you to no end. I have no doubt long term exposure to the dust from working these materials without proper protection would be problematic, probably moreso than normal wood dust. Regardless of my limited exposure, it just feels kind of nasty, it's why I've always worked pearl wet, to keep the dust from getting everywhere and breathing it in. I don't know how much antler is like bone. Bone was seemed pretty much as bad as pearl.

It also strikes me that bones are places where lead ends up in animals with lead poisoning (while blood tests are usually used to determine lead poisoning, people with significant lead exposure as children it actually shows up on x-rays as lines in the bones. I don't think a deer is something that is apt to have a large exposure to lead, but I wonder if there are other heavy elements that also accumulate in the bones? Probably not a huge exposure risk.

I would wear a mask of some sort and work the stuff somewhat wet if you can, to help cut down on dust, but not worry about it overly if you're just doing this small amount. If this tends to be something you think about pursuing in your work on a regular basis, I'd research it further. A local university may be able to point you in the right direction. But I think your primary concern is going to be the dust.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

Just another thought - I've never started with "raw" bone materials when making nuts, but my understanding has always been that bone needed to be properly dried before working, and this was either a matter of time or a process one undertook or a combination of the two. I don't know how critical this is, and I may be mistaken. And again, this may apply to bone and not antler. Just mentioning it in case these were "fresh" (although deer season was a while ago now, here at least) You may want to look to knife makers groups - I know a lot of them use bone and antler in scales and handles.

EDIT: I also stumbled across this article:


http://www.florilegium.org/files/CRAFTS/Working-Horn-pamphlet.pdf

Which is from some SCA folks, and seems like it may have some info.

Regardless of what you come up with, please share your results!

[Steve Thomas]

Are antlers bone?

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

My understanding is that it's a type of bone, but not quite the same thing that's like, in a leg or something. Same basic material, though, I guess. They certainly grow faster than bone. I was discussing bone just because my understanding is that it has similar working properties and is similar material to antler, and I've worked the former more and not the latter. Good point though, in that I have no idea how much of what applies to one applies to the other.

[Zach England]

I might do the same thing with some of these elephant tusks I have sitting around.