Stag from old carving sets.

[bladebuddy]

I often come across old carving set[knife ,fork and steel]. Are the stag handle pieces salvageable for use on rehandle projects?
If the stag is good to use again I’ll try to save some for you knife mechanics. Steve B.

[glennbad]

I've used a couple. They work fine, you just need to keep in mind that they may need to be thinned down some, so you will lose some width in doing that.

[orvet]

I love this old stag! There is one problem with it, if it is still attached to the handle, the older they are the harder the stag is to remove from the handles.

The old carving sets with stag handles from Germany and probably from Sheffield as well use Cutler's cement to keep the handle secure. It's not often you find one of those old ones that is loose unless it has been tampered with.

I forgot the components of Cutler cement , but I believe it was brick dust, tallow and pitch. If a handle is properly installed with that stuff it is a lot of work to get it off!

I have collected quite a few pieces of them for cutting slabs or using as a stag roll for a hidden tang knife.

Remember once you have it cleaned out on the inside and you begin to cut the Stag for your slab handles, you will be cutting through the center which has all the brick dust around the hole for the tang. That brick does can wreak havoc on your bandsaw blade.

I will post some pictures later of some of the Stag handle knife collected.

[cudgee]

I love this old stag! There is one problem with it oh, if it is still attached do they handle, the older they are the harder the stag is to remove from the handles.

The old carving sets with stag handles from Germany and probably from Sheffield as well use Cutler's cement to keep the handle secure. It's not often you find one of those old ones that is loose unless it has been tampered with.

I forgot the components of Cutler cement , but I believe it was brick dust, tallow and pitch. If a handle is properly installed with that stuff it is a lot of work to get it off!

I have collected quite a few pieces of them for cutting slabs or using as a stag roll for a hidden tang knife.

Remember once you have it cleaned out on the inside and you begin to cut the Stag for your slab handles, you will be cutting through the center which has all the brick dust around the hole for the tang. That brick does can wreak havoc on your bandsaw blade.

I will post some pictures later of some of the Stag handle knife collected.

Looking forward to seeing your pictures.

[Ripster]

I love this old stag! There is one problem with it oh, if it is still attached do they handle, the older they are the harder the stag is to remove from the handles.

The old carving sets with stag handles from Germany and probably from Sheffield as well use Cutler's cement to keep the handle secure. It's not often you find one of those old ones that is loose unless it has been tampered with.

I forgot the components of Cutler cement , but I believe it was brick dust, tallow and pitch. If a handle is properly installed with that stuff it is a lot of work to get it off!

I have collected quite a few pieces of them for cutting slabs or using as a stag roll for a hidden tang knife.

Remember once you have it cleaned out on the inside and you begin to cut the Stag for your slab handles, you will be cutting through the center which has all the brick dust around the hole for the tang. That brick does can wreak havoc on your bandsaw blade.

I will post some pictures later of some of the Stag handle knife collected.

Thanks for sharing that , got a couple of carving sets that aren’t complete but awesome stag ,might try that out . Take care be safe

[kootenay joe]

Some old British carving sets have ivory handles that are the entire tip end of a tusk. Great ivory if it could be removed from the tang of the knife, fork or steel.
kj

[orvet]

Depending on how it is made, you may be able to start working at one end and getting it loose. I usually start with the blade or the fork in device and try to twist it. Usually I wrap it in rubber Thera-Band which is just like a big huge rubber band about 6 inches wide and that gives me more grip on it without putting a wrench on the Stag itself. I begin to twist it back and forth and if everything is going great it will start to work a little bit in there. I may take a punch or an ice pick gently try to work out some of that cement from around the shaft. One thing I've also tried on it, without great success is the strap wrench but this stag is usually too small in diameter for the strap wrench tool get a good grip.

One thing that has helped before is heat, that will help loosen most glues.
I will heat the fork tang, or knife tang if I'm not going to use them again with a propane torch. Don't get them hot enough that they melt or set the stag on fire, just a little bit of heat on the tang itself will help soften the pitch in that old Cutler cement.

I've tried freezing them also but I didn't notice that it helped much. A lot of clues will fail, especially if there a bond on a slab handle. When frozen overnight in a deep freeze and hit from the side edge of the handle it produces a sheering action that usually knocks the handle right off the tang. That principle doesn't work very well with the through tang construction method of these old sets.

The only reason that that stag is worth all of the work to get it off the knife is because usually it's amazing looking stag. I have worked nearly 8 hours to get a single stag handle off of a fork that was made in Germany. I finally succeeded but if I figure my time is worth anything that is one expensive piece of stag!

Here are some staying handles I've removed from carving sets. There is one that is sliced as you can see. It was very odd shaped handle but you can see that it is difficult to get good slabs off of some of these.

I threw in a fork and a knife from which I removed the stag long ago. You must use care when removing the stag because sometimes it will crack. It often has natural cracks or checking in that can be opened up.

Also what you don't want to do is break off a drill bit or even break off the the hidden tang inside the stag because that makes a hard job even more difficult.
It can be a real pain to get the stag off of one of these old carving sets, but I think the results are worth it.

[btrwtr]

Cutlers cement will soften in boiling water without damaging the handles. Just submerge the handle in the boiling water and use some thick gloves to pull the hidden tang from the handle once the cement begins to soften. When the cement cools and hardens it can be used again. Sometimes a single cross pin might be used in conjunction with the cement but these pins can often be removed without much trouble.

[Ripster]

Cutlers cement will soften in boiling water without damaging the handles. Just submerge the handle in the boiling water and use some thick gloves to pull the hidden tang from the handle once the cement begins to soften. When the cement cools and hardens it can be used again. Sometimes a single cross pin might be used in conjunction with the cement but these pins can often be removed without much trouble.

Thanks, ,boiling water, would never. Have thought of that.

[Tony_Wood]

I have used butch methods with success, heating the metal until the resin softened, and also boiling water. Scales are difficult to acquire this way as the stock gets narrow when split and sized. I find culpepper a much better source.
Using the full stag in another fixed blade, now that workS well.
I like to use 1) raw material, 2) salvaged material, 3) purchased material. In that order.

Best of luck In your ventures. Post pics along the way.

[orvet]

Thanks Wayne, that is a great tip, I never thought of using boiling water.