So I got this wonderful deer rack that is going to make a couple of great antler handle knives.
I thought it was aged but when I cut the tang slot in the antler, CRAP it is still green. It must have been from a deer this last fall.
My question is, do any of you think I could bake them in the oven or something to dry them out or should I just set them aside until next summer?
They are too nice to experiment with.
And I have the blades in the heat treat oven as I'm typing this.
Thanks for your input.
Graps
Hi Dale, maybe keep it a little longer to be sure. Do you like the color? If not plenty of ways you can "Age" the antler and color it. A very good Bladesmith named John Cohea makes excellent Frontier knives using antler. He uses "Green" antler sometime and heats it withe a propane torch and dies it while hot with leather dye and then 50/50 Mineral oil and boiled Linseed oil. Looks great!
Steve
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Potomac Forge
Member W.F. Moran Foundation
ABS Apprentice
The color is great, it's an off white and I like that.
Funny thing, when I cut the second one, it didn't stick to my cutter. The first one did, kinda looked like peanut butter.
When I usually cut the slots, it looks like talcum powder and doesn't stick on the tool.
I might just stick them in the oven at around 250 deg for a couple hours. I don't see how that would hurt.
I baked them for 3 hours at 225°, that did the trick.