Experiment with burning deer antler.

[dewman]

Tonight, I experimented with a piece of deer antler. I ground one side down flat with a belt sander, then used a pencil flame from a propane torch and burned the heck out of it. I then ground the edges off enough to barely see part of the unburned portion and did the same to the ends.

I then took it to the buffer and polished it up with some fairly coarse compound, then used some white compound to put a real fine finish on it.

To say that I was pleased was a real understatement! Wow. It looked super!

This is all in anticipation of rehandling a Parker Trapper I have. I tried my hand at some jigging tonight....actually I was trying to copy the look of the old Remington "Worm Grooved" handles, but with little or no success. Man, that's a real art in itself. I got an interesting look....sort of, if you're eyes aren't too good and it's across the room when you look at it. But if nothing else, I'm persistent.

Just wondering....have any of you tried the "burning bone" treatment?

Dewman

[smiling-knife]

Sounds great Dewman. May we see a pic of your stag experiment or do we need to wait for the finished knife s-k

[dewman]

Here's a photo of the burnt deer antler. Notice the black flecking toward the end. Rather interesting, eh?

Also, the second photo is of an elk leg bone that was old and had a series of serious cracks in it. With copious amounts of 5-minute epoxy, I was able to fix it and after polishing it, the cracks took on the black of the polishing compound. I'm thinking, if I was to burn it enough, polish it to a slight amber color, then give it a treatment of lacquer-based wood stain, it might take on the looks of some mastadon ivory.

The last photo is of my latest victim, with the deer antler slabs I intend to use as handles, giving them the burnt treatment.