some bone and ivory work.
- Thread starter fishfish
- Start date
I have a question for you, I have never carved bone, so I was wondering, can you just use your knife on it? or is it too hard?
An important note, always to use a dust mask when carving, filling or sanding bone or similar materials.
H&S lecture over.
Very nice fish, if you are going to be making up arrows for your display I have some Greylag primaries that would look nice on self knock poplar shafts! Let me know if you would like some.
Pothunter.
H&S lecture over.
Very nice fish, if you are going to be making up arrows for your display I have some Greylag primaries that would look nice on self knock poplar shafts! Let me know if you would like some.
Pothunter.
Great work! Bone is such a fun material to work with. The big problem is finding pieces that are large enough for your projects.
Bone can be carved with a knive, or chisels. But you get more control using files and sandpaper. If you want to use modern tools, a dremel type tool does a lot in a very short time. Ditto the electric grinder, angle grinder, and belt sander. Polishing starts with coarse sandpaper, progressing to finer grits for a smoother finish.
Look for "fresh" bone. If it's been drying/bleaching in the sun for a while, it will get brittle and "dried" out. I know several knife makers that look for bones from mules, draft horses, oxen, and dairy herd bulls. They tend to be much thicker and larger overall. That makes it easier to find sections that are wide enough for most projects. If you make a wide handled knife with bone slabs on it you will have a hard time finding wide enough "slabs" to cut out of big leg bones to fit that knife. So my buddies look for someone butchering a mule of draft horse. (They know a plant that makes dog food from animals that cannot be used for human food.)
One interesting little story about using cow bone for knife handles. A number of years ago, two knife maker buddies of mine were shifting away from using real ivory because of all the restrictions and high costs. They foung they could get most of the same look from cow bone. But telling a customer that the handle was just ... cow bone ... kind of hurt the sales. So they helped coin a new "term" to use for them. They started calling it ... Montana Ivory (because they got a lot of their cow bones from a place in Montana)! It was something of an inside joke for them, but then it caught on at the knife shows. Now lots of knife makers offer Montana Ivory as a standard option for knife handles.
All "fresh" bone has varying amounts of natural oil/grease/fat in it. Some people try to reduce this a bit before they start working it. I have heard that some soak/boil in water and a little soap and bleach. But I haven't done much, so I really don't know what would be best for preparation of the bone. But now be sure to save that ... ham bone!
Just my humble thoughts to share. Take them as such.
Mikey - yee ol' grumpy blacksmith out in the Hinterlands
p.s. A new good source of larger one-piece leg bones for use on knife handles is Ostrich bones. They are larger than deer leg bones, but not as large as cow - a good middle size. And there's a local locker plant near me that occasionally processes ostrich and emu for some local farmers. Occasionally some bone is available.
Bone can be carved with a knive, or chisels. But you get more control using files and sandpaper. If you want to use modern tools, a dremel type tool does a lot in a very short time. Ditto the electric grinder, angle grinder, and belt sander. Polishing starts with coarse sandpaper, progressing to finer grits for a smoother finish.
Look for "fresh" bone. If it's been drying/bleaching in the sun for a while, it will get brittle and "dried" out. I know several knife makers that look for bones from mules, draft horses, oxen, and dairy herd bulls. They tend to be much thicker and larger overall. That makes it easier to find sections that are wide enough for most projects. If you make a wide handled knife with bone slabs on it you will have a hard time finding wide enough "slabs" to cut out of big leg bones to fit that knife. So my buddies look for someone butchering a mule of draft horse. (They know a plant that makes dog food from animals that cannot be used for human food.)
One interesting little story about using cow bone for knife handles. A number of years ago, two knife maker buddies of mine were shifting away from using real ivory because of all the restrictions and high costs. They foung they could get most of the same look from cow bone. But telling a customer that the handle was just ... cow bone ... kind of hurt the sales. So they helped coin a new "term" to use for them. They started calling it ... Montana Ivory (because they got a lot of their cow bones from a place in Montana)! It was something of an inside joke for them, but then it caught on at the knife shows. Now lots of knife makers offer Montana Ivory as a standard option for knife handles.
All "fresh" bone has varying amounts of natural oil/grease/fat in it. Some people try to reduce this a bit before they start working it. I have heard that some soak/boil in water and a little soap and bleach. But I haven't done much, so I really don't know what would be best for preparation of the bone. But now be sure to save that ... ham bone!
Just my humble thoughts to share. Take them as such.
Mikey - yee ol' grumpy blacksmith out in the Hinterlands
p.s. A new good source of larger one-piece leg bones for use on knife handles is Ostrich bones. They are larger than deer leg bones, but not as large as cow - a good middle size. And there's a local locker plant near me that occasionally processes ostrich and emu for some local farmers. Occasionally some bone is available.
Would cooked or not make a difference? Should you be boiling to sterilise? Sorry to hijack the thread away from those wonderful pieces of work.
oh you must mean montanna ivory! yes when the dogs finished with them i make things like these out of them! in this case the bone came from a stocky breed called a dexter.
mirius i cant see why cooked bone wouldnt work!
Eric_Methven
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Cooked bone works just fine. In times past, bones would be the only thing left after a feast or meal. Only when the last of the meat was cut or scraped from the bone after boiling or roasting would it be boiled up for a cauldron of stock or soup. Once every last scrap of goodness had been boiled out of it would it be claimed for making utensils out of. So working with boiled or roasted bone is probably more authentic than fresh uncooked bone.
Eric
Eric
thankd dean,it comes up a treat! once on the finest paper the paper gets clogged with the dust and so becomes even less abraisive and polishes a treat,in the past ive sold these as pendants some folk even thaught the monntanna ivory was the real deal!
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