Anyone stumbled onto any special preparations or finishing methods for use on deer antlers? Am going to try and use some for winding checks & hosels, ect.. Thought I would ask before ruining a few pieces.

Thanks kindly,
Neil Toland

The knife making guys would know more about that. I have no idea but since they seem to hold up in the wild pretty good maybe they don't need anything extra?

I used many Antlers, but the Whitetail antlers are not very good to use, the walls are to thinn, better is Elk and the best is Moose, you can finish them with any Mineral Oil.
Best Reagrds mark Crouse-The Munich rod man

Les, from "Inserts by Les" makes inserts from antler. I'm sure he could help you out.

Tony

Thanks for the suggestions. This is a whitetail antler so it may not work - I did notice when I cut it that the marrow part was larger than I expected.

Go ahead and give it a shot--can't hurt anything. I've discovered that I can soak that marrow portion with superglue and firm it up a bit. The hardest part is getting a straight hole through a curved piece of antler. But, if you're just trying to use it for narrow stuff, then you'll probably be fine. Also, just be aware that when you're done using your chisels and you need to sand, it's gonna' stink to high heaven. Do not do the sanding in your attached garage like I did. My wife is still upset at me about that lingering smell.

Yes Andrew, that's sort of what I was thinking too. Can't hurt anything until I get out the rod bond... but then, boy oh boy, I can make some pretty permenent errors at that stage.

No need to finish antler. A fuper fine sanding will be the most permanent finish you can use on one. There are finishes that will work, but all will wear off. I've made pens out of antler and sanded to 4000 grit and the finish was awesome. I'd say a wet sanding to 1200 will make an acceptable finish for most, but the higher you go, the shinier it gets. As the others stated, sanding stinks to high heaven, but a good sanding job is really important on it. A good strong fan pointed across the lathe and toward an open door will do wonders. Once you get to the wet sanding stage, it gets better. If you use mineral oil as a wetting agent for mid grit sanding (220 - 1200 grit), it works very well. You need to use a thinner wetting agent such as water for the ultra fine grits.

Gary, thanks for the information. I'll be sure to stuff some cotton in my nose before starting to sand. From what you folks say it must really stink! I usually have the dust collector running when I am sanding. Maybe that'll help.