Antler Knife Handles

by kantn in Workshop > Home Improvement

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Antler Knife Handles

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how to make deer antler knife handles

Needs

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an antler, a knife blade, some nails (or other metal rods), two-component glue, super glue and time

don't worry, you won't need a fire salamander :)

Chose a Piece of the Antler for the Handle

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figure out which part of the antler matches to your knife blade and cut it into shape.
deer antlers are bones and bone dust smells bad and is unhealthy for your lungs. use a mask.
i love the natural shape of the tips, so i just cut them of and adapt them to the knives.

Cut Into Halves

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split the bone in halves. i use my coping saw with raw saw blades for that.
draw the outline of your knife tail on one of the handles.
now you'll need to carve out the room for the knife tail.
the inside of the antler is much softer and easier to carve than the outside.
i'm using my dremel fortiflex with a miling head for that.

Super Glue Power

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it is necessary to make the top of the handle waterproof. the inside of the bone consists of little tubes. if they aren't closed fluids get inside the handle and it will smell funny after some time :)
just sand the top of the handle to the shape you imagine, put super glue on it (use a little brush/easier)and sand it again. i sand it down till 1000 grit.
if you want you can put the superglue all over the surface of the handle, so the colour of the bone stays forever.

Prepare for Glueing

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to keep the handles in place you will need to drill holes through the blade tail and the handle. at first i drill the blade holes and than just one of the handle scales. the next step is glueing the handle around the blade tail and let it dry. after the drying process, put in the drillbit again and drill completly throug.
you will need a very hard drillbit and low rotation speed. also use oil. wear savety glasses!
if you don't want or can't drill the metal use an angle grinder or a saw and cut little pieces in the bladetail. the glue will stick in this holes and keep the blade in place.

Two-component Power!

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put some two-component glue on a piece of paper and mix the two parts together.

top tip: warm the glue up, so it gets liquid. much easier to attach.

put the glue between the handles and the blade.
use claps or whatever you got to put pressure on the knife.
wait until the glue is dry.

Clinching

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if you don't already drilled the holes complete, than drill them.
you have to use metal rods or nails or whatever you got. brass rods look very good and are easy to hammer. i use nails because they also look good and i got no other kind of metal rods.

shorten the metal rod to the size you need. it should fit well in the hole but it has to be a bit longer.
put your knife on a hard underground (i use my vise) and start hammering the bold softly from both sides. the endings of the bold will start to get wider and wider. if the rod starts to bend, i mean make a curve, put them out and make a new one. hammer slowly. this process will take some time but it is totally worth it.
file them down to the surface of handle, if you want to.

Finish Your Knife

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scratch away the squeezed glue. with another knife :D
or use a file. trim down the edges where the two handle parts connect.
sharpen your knife and you're done.



i hope i've made an understandable instructable.
have an a1 day !

:)