Rameau straight razor in antler

UKRob

UKRob

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Lichfield
I admired a brush that Steve (Not Sharp) had made so he offered to send some antler that he thought was long enough for scales. I'd never worked with this before so it posed a few problems I wasn't used to - in particular the fact that I usually work with flat blanks of horn or wood.

I sawed the antler along its length and then thinned from the insides on a bench sander until each side was roughly equal. By taping together and covering the top scale with masking tape I was able to draw a shape that had been tested on the blade - then more shaping on the sander ant thinning the ends where the pins go. I wanted to retain the bark so wasn't too concerned that the scales are not symmetrical.

The biggest test was getting the pivot and wedge end holes aligned properly - even using a pillar drill on a rounded surface means you are guessing at a 90 degree angle. I ended up drilling approximately half way then testing alignment with a rod of brass pushed into the hole. I then went in from the other side and although the holes met and were not perfect, everything turned out OK because the blade centres properly when closed.
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Rob, that is absolutely delightful!

The slight exposure of the antler honeycombe center, at the ends, is exactly what you should be aiming for, IMO.

Compare to photographs of old style Scout knives, and you have nailed it!

Very, very impressed.( I can not find a suitable smiley )

Steve.

Edit.
Was that Sika or Red Deer antler?
 
jaycey said:
Very nice Rob, I do like natural scales.
Did you treat the antler with anything? What's it's stability like when you are working with it?
Click to expand...
Hi Jason. I used the Antler as it was sent - I assume that there is a drying period when cut, but Steve would be able to advise on that. The only finish I applied was buffing with Vonax which is a general purpose compound used on horn, wood, plastics etc.

As regards the characteristics when working, it's not as smelly as bone or rams horn - personally I will not bother with rams horn again because there is a residual smell even after finishing.

The biggest problem is the amount of dust created in the thinning process - usually if I'm thinning wood, horn or man-made material I put it on a drum sander that has good dust collection but with this, I held it flat on a belt sander which just shoots the dust off the end - and likes to take your fingerprints every now and then.

Once the thinning is done then it's really nice to work with because it's a process of finding what's inside if you know what I mean. You will see that the pile side of the scales had much more material removed than the show side. The next one along will be quite different I'm sure.
 
jaycey said:
Very nice Rob, I do like natural scales.
Did you treat the antler with anything? What's it's stability like when you are working with it?
Click to expand...


The antler, as sent to Rob, had not been treated with anything, but was two to three years old, so was well and truly dry.

When used for brush or stick handles, where the honeycombe center is not removed, I stabilise it. I'm guessing that the crumbley center would have been sanded away, really only leaving the hard, outer material.

You can see the inner/outer material clearly:



Steve.
 
Ahhh, I see. So by the looks of that Rob, you wouldn't of had much 'meat' to play with. Not much room for error ;)

I know what you mean about fingers meet sanding belt! The fingers take a fair battering when your hand sanding but slip on a belt sander and 2 hours of hand sanding is realised in 2milliseconds :)

I can see why you're never going to end up with a pair of matching scales off that.
Good stuff guys.
 
jaycey said:
Ahhh, I see. So by the looks of that Rob, you wouldn't of had much 'meat' to play with. Not much room for error ;)



I can see why you're never going to end up with a pair of matching scales off that.
Good stuff guys.
Click to expand...

You're right about not much room for error - the darker parts at either end are where I hit the honeycomb whereas on the pile side it's still all outer material.

I learned a lot from this first go so we'll see how the next effort turns out.
 
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