antler

[ilan]

Inspired i have purchased some deer antler to hollow out and make a little tinder/fire steel case also a piece to use as a walking stick handle . do i need to treat this in any way before use / or can i just drill out the soft center ? thanks ilan

 

[Longstrider]

Sounds like a good project ilan. Depending on what sort of deer the antler came from you might want to seal the end of the tinder pot with something like varnish or resin so that water cannot seep into the pithy core. Red deer antler has a particularly soft pithy core and could soak up water whereas reindeer antler is much harder throughout. If you are making the cap of the pot from antler I'd recommend that you seal the ends of the core on that too. With something like an "O" ring to seal the lid when it's on you should be able to ensure that your tinder stays dry in there no matter how wet your kit gets. Nice project, let us know how it turns out.

 

[ilan]

Hi yes i was going to drill scrape out all the soft core and make a couple of wooden plugs ie like corks to fit in one will have a firesteel in it the other end some tinder. The stick handle i was going just to drill out the soft core and epoxy in a steel bolt so i can fit it to a suitable stick ilan

 

[Heathenpeddler]

I have some antler I'd like to use for this. Is there any other way to get the core out than drilling as mine is a little curved.

 

[Diederik Pomstra]

Hello,
If you soak the antler for a couple of days the core will get really soft and you can easily scrape it out. It will smell, but washing with some soap will fix that.
Good luck,
Diederik

 

[Singeblister]

I just used small chisels then a small sanding bit for a dremel to tidy it up , I sealed the ends with superglue and the inside with sanding sealer then furniture wax no problems so far , good luck , seems I have set off a antler hollowing frenzy off
Wear a mask if using any power tools on Antler the dust is not good for you.

 

[gregorach]

Wear a mask if using any power tools on Antler the dust is not good for you.

Any idea how not good for you? (He asks slightly nervously... )

 

[Eric_Methven]

Any idea how not good for you? (He asks slightly nervously... )

The dust is an irritant and can cause respiritory issues if you breathe lots of it. I must admit I've never used a mask, but I never work antler indoors anyway. My workshop has drafts like howling gales blowing through it. Having said that, my lungs are probably so coated with MDF dust over the years the antler dust doesn't have anywhere to settle. When I was young, wearing a mask was seen as sissy, so nobody did.

Eric

 

[gregorach]

Oh, that's OK then... As a smoker, worrying about a little antler dust is probably silly.

 

[Heathenpeddler]

Yeah, what's another carcinogenic among friends? I smoke too. Tried giving up recently, the day before the benefits people told me I owed them £1500 they had paid me wrong! Unsurprisingly I'm back on them for a while.

 

[torjusg]

If you do as Diederik suggests, there will be no dust as long as you work it wet. That's what I do all the time.

I do however not find it neccesary to wash it afterwards. When it dries back up it turns pretty much odorless again.