Bone handle!
- Thread starter Pignut
- Start date
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I carve cattle bone and I've seen it used for handle slabs. You can get it for next to nothing from a friendly butcher though you'll have to prepare it yourself, which is a bit of a messy job. If you're interested I'm happy to give more info
My interest in working with bone comes from learning to carve it while in New Zealand. For my work I use the rear shin bone from a cow. This bit is fairly long and straight which means there are a lot of useable parts.
1. Saw off the knuckles leaving the nice straight bit.
2. Scrape of any remaining meat with a sharp knife.
3. Remove the marrow with a long thin knife.
4. Simmer for 2 hours in 5 liters of water with 6 table spoons of napisan. It's important that you don't boil it as this makes the bone brittle.
5. Scrape again, then simmer as before in fresh water and napisan.
6. Leave to dry for 24 hours, preferably with the bones standing on their ends.
This is very thorough and may be unnecessary for some uses but for my work I like the bone very white. If you have any more questions I'm happy to help.
1. Saw off the knuckles leaving the nice straight bit.
2. Scrape of any remaining meat with a sharp knife.
3. Remove the marrow with a long thin knife.
4. Simmer for 2 hours in 5 liters of water with 6 table spoons of napisan. It's important that you don't boil it as this makes the bone brittle.
5. Scrape again, then simmer as before in fresh water and napisan.
6. Leave to dry for 24 hours, preferably with the bones standing on their ends.
This is very thorough and may be unnecessary for some uses but for my work I like the bone very white. If you have any more questions I'm happy to help.
Try this site if you don't want the hassle of boiling bones etc:
http://www.traditionalmaterials.co.uk/html/woodhornbone.php
Cheers
http://www.traditionalmaterials.co.uk/html/woodhornbone.php
Cheers
Napisan is the stuff that's used to soak terry toweling nappies and kids trainer pants before washing. You'll get the same effect by soaking in camden tablets or diluted bleach. Oxysept is the stuff the £ stores are selling just now.
Bone is usually sort of creamy/ivory coloured. Many of the knife makers want pristine *white* for handle work and the only way to get that, short of sun bleaching and ageing, is by using chemicals.
Cheers,
Toddy
Bone is usually sort of creamy/ivory coloured. Many of the knife makers want pristine *white* for handle work and the only way to get that, short of sun bleaching and ageing, is by using chemicals.
Cheers,
Toddy
i've heard some folks ....after they prep the bones and dry them..... boil them in linseed oil to preserve.... .. the ones i saw had a nice shine after being buffed..
i don't think the boiling is necessary......i'd just stabilize is in a vacuum.. to pull the linseed oil in
i don't think the boiling is necessary......i'd just stabilize is in a vacuum.. to pull the linseed oil in
Bone needles are traditionally oiled by rubbing on oil from the side of the nose after use. I'm told that the same works very well for bone fishing hooks.
Cheers,
Toddy
Cheers,
Toddy
Toddy said:
I use this method for oiling anything small and wooden that needs a little polish to bring back the shine
James
My local supermarket sells Napisan and I use it as it's cheap and convenient. Some carvers use a mixture of bleach and detergent, but over bleaching can remove all the bones natural color and leave it looking like plastic. I have been trying to get some photos of my carvings on the gallery here but I must be doing something wrong. Someone mentioned how to finish bone. I sand up to 600 grit then buff with autosol. I personaly don't oil my carvings but I know people who do.
I use bone for my folders, I get cattle shin bone from the locl butcher, cut the ends off, dig out the marrow and boil it for about 20 minutes, dry it overnight then cut it to size. Bone being most round need a lot of sawing and grinding to get it to a flat piece for a handle. I usually can only get one handle slab per bone.
To get an interesting marble effect, you can boil the bone with the marrow still in, the fat soaks into the bone and makes it look like marbling but it does interfer with gluing the bone.
Bone takes a very good finish. I sand it to 320 grit than use fine steel wool and finish with a fine abrasive like T Cut or Brasso to get a glossy finish.
It looks a lot like ivory.
Heres a pic of a knife with bones scales I made.
To get an interesting marble effect, you can boil the bone with the marrow still in, the fat soaks into the bone and makes it look like marbling but it does interfer with gluing the bone.
Bone takes a very good finish. I sand it to 320 grit than use fine steel wool and finish with a fine abrasive like T Cut or Brasso to get a glossy finish.
It looks a lot like ivory.
Heres a pic of a knife with bones scales I made.
Thanks all!
That folder looks brilliant!
Gonna give it a go over the W/E
Will post some pics when I get done!
That folder looks brilliant!
Gonna give it a go over the W/E
Will post some pics when I get done!
I've bought bone from Wilkinsons before - it's sold as a dog treat. Maybe more expensive than a butchers but less mess.
I used to get dyed bone from a guy in Canada and it polished up great but he always advised against using it on a "user" knife as he said the scales would warp if they got wet.
Have you had any problems with this Shing or do you stabilize the bone ?
rb
Have you had any problems with this Shing or do you stabilize the bone ?
rb
I haven't had much experience of using bone handle knives, they get sold too quickly! I don't stabilise them. Bone in the form of jigged bone stag have been used for knife hadles for centuries so should be OK.
Thinking about it, I have a bone handled knife that I've got very wet quite a few times and it doesn't seem to have suffered.
