Antlers for a knife

[waco]

A guy at work gave me a bunch of Blacktail deer antlers and even an elk shed that he had found. All he wanted was one knife in exchange. I jumped on the opportunity to get all the antlers. Here is how his knife turned out. The obsidian is just standard black.

 

[Axman]

Very nice work.

 

[fiver]

you do the boil and push thing?

 

[creosote]

I'm gonna start collecting sheds.

 

[waco]

you do the boil and push thing?

What is that?

 

[fiver]

where you boil the antler until the marrow inside the antler gets soft.
then you work it and the shaft of the knife together.
then let it sit and cool.
the marrow stuff will break down and hold the blade in place by form fitting to the shaft.
if the blade slides out after cooling [depending on antler size, boil time, etc.] you have a nice form fit pocket to glue into.
usually it doesn't even budge, if you pick a smaller antler with just enough marrow diameter and straightness for the shaft.

 

[L Ross]

Waco, I picked a lot of arrow heads etc. as a kid, and yours are beautiful. Have you ever tried to field dress a deer with one of your blades?

 

[waco]

Waco, I picked a lot of arrow heads etc. as a kid, and yours are beautiful. Have you ever tried to field dress a deer with one of your blades?

I not much of a hunter, so no. I have no doubt you could skin a deer with one. I might be a bit leery about a flake of obsidian coming off in the process though.