Deer antler is a beautiful crown of a deer. Antlers help them to defend themselves from any attack in the wildlife.
So, if you’re an antique lover, we get your fascination for a deer antler knife handle. There’s no reason that can make you dislike a fascinating deer antler knife handle.
Buying a knife with deer antler could be out of reach for many as the handle can be quite expensive most of the time. But you can make one yourself. It will save your money, get what you need and also you can customize it as you like.
So, you might be wondering at the beginning that how to cut deer antler for knife handle.
First, you need to select and grab the knife that you want to make the handle for. Then, you need to prepare the antler to become the handle. After that, you need to use super glue to seal the inside of the handle. Set the handle and knife primarily with glue. Moreover, start clinching and set the knife and handle perfectly in place.
So, if these can even convince you a little bit, give us a read.
Things You’ll Need
Sometimes a simple ingredient in curry can make it go all wrong. Just like that, you need the perfect tools and stuff to make the knife handle, or else you’ll face failure.
Now here are the things that you’ll need to get before you start-
- Hack Saw
- A knife
- Deer Antler
- Protective Gloves
- Eye Protection
How to Cut Deer Antler for Knife Handle
Cutting a deer antler can be quite messy if you don’t know how to do it properly. Also, if you’re cutting the antler for your knife handle, you be very precise about it. A small mistake on the fit can make the knife deadly without you even knowing it.
However, those antlers can be used as decorative pieces too. Many people hang the whole antler with a small portion of the deer head on the wall which looks great as a decorative piece in your home.
So, let’s have a look at how you’re going to cut the deer antler to fit as a knife handle.
Step 1: Grab the Knife
As you’re already making a handle, it’s obvious that you’ll need a knife without a handle. However, there are knives in the market that often come without any handle and you could use those.
But if you’re planning to use an old knife, you can just remove the older handle and keep the steel part.
A beautiful antler
Step 2: Prepare the Deer Antler
You need to manage a deer antler and prepare it. You see, picking the shape of the antler is very important. This will determine how you’ll mount the knife into it the antler piece.
Some like to go with a pointer piece and some go with the thicker sections for the handle. It’s totally your choice if you when you’re making one yourself.
However, you might need to make some adjustments to the antler depending on the size of the knife and the size of the piece that you are taking away from the antler.
Make A Hole Inside
So, to start, you need to decide where you’re going to cut the horn to make it flush. Also, it’s going to sound obvious but make sure that the cut is made so the knife fits correctly and gives you the right feel.
Now, you need to make a cut with a hacksaw or an angle grinder. Make sure that you have your protective gloves on and make sure that you’re going easy while cutting the antler. Or else that might result in breaking.
Cut into Halves
Another thing you can do is that you can split the bone in halves using a coping saw with a raw saw blade.
After you have it in halves, you can draw the outline of your knife tail on one of the handles. Then you need to carve out the room for the knife tail.
Don’t worry because as the inside of the antler is much softer, it’s going to be easier to carve inside.
Step 3: Use Super Glue
You see, it’s really important to make the top of your handle waterproof. Now the question is, what’ll water even do to the handle?
Well, you’ll notice that the inside of the bone consists of little tubes. Those are the things that need to be closed at all costs. However, if you don’t close them, the fluids will get inside the handle and it’ll smell funny after some time.
Now, you can sand the top of the handle to the shape that you want and then put super glue on it. You can use a little brush to put the super glue on. Then, sand it again after the superglue dries.
Step 4: Start Gluing
So, you’ll need to drill holes through the blade tail and the handles to keep the handles in place. Then, you can drill the blade holes and one of the handle scales.
Now you need to start gluing the handle around the blade tail and let it set. After it’s completely dry, put the drill bit again and drill through. The trick is to have a very hard drill bit and a low rotation speed for this.
Nevertheless, if you can’t or don’t want to drill the metal, you can use an angle grinder or a saw to cut little pieces in the blade tail. And the glue that you’ll apply will stick in those holes and keep the blade in place.
Step 5: Clinching
If you’ve drilled the holes completely, this step is going to be an easy one for you. You should grab metal rods or nails first. You can also brass rods because they look very good and are easy to hammer.
But first, you need to shorten the metal rod or nail size to the size that you need for the handle. Don’t shorten them too much or else they won’t perfectly fit. You can keep the nails a little bit longer to keep the knife in place.
Now hammer your knife nicely so that the whole thing fits perfectly.
Check out this helpful video for more understanding on this topic-
Conclusion
Now you know how to cut deer antler for knife handle and you’re more than capable to make one yourself now. It will be a great environment friendly hunting tool as well.
However, it can be quite dangerous for you when you’re dealing with sharp objects like a knife and blades. So, you need to take proper precautions and keep yourself safe from getting in an injury.
Other than these, best of luck crafting your new knife and happy hunting.