Buckhorn: Your thoughts
- Thread starter Hanky
- Start date
BLACKHEARTCUES said:
Thanks for the info Jerry. I got It from a guy that makes knifes, and It was a good mix of both from what I could tell, there were some sheds, but some I could see had been cut at the buttons also, so I'm sure they were'nt sheds, and you would be correct on those. Some are almost all white, but have touches of grey, and others have more of the gray w/ touches of brown & white. Some of the ones in the picture have the darkest sides facing up. He selected pieces that he said were his most solid that he had, because at the time that was My main concern, but I still ended up culling over half of them that were'nt solid enough for My taste, and looks like I may be culling even more. I can handle the coloring, as that does'nt bother me as much, but I won't use any with the open grain, or marrow that is out of center any more then 1/16-1/8. I had some that was solid all the way through though, and they feel really good. I turned quite a few more then what's there, but they did'nt make the final cut.
Greg
Cue Crazy said:
The buck horn that was used in cues and knives for many moons was Indian Stag horn from India. This material is no longer allowed to be imported. The Indian Stag Horn is a solid horn thru-out where as White-tail and Mule Deer are pithy inside. The pithy material is useless for cue material. It is hard to find a piece of native antler large enough in diameter and still be solid for any use. The tines are solid if you can find some large enough.
Moose antler makes for some good joint material.
Dick
They are usuable by someone who knows how to cut and turn them.joe c said:
Cutting and turning antlers is kinda dangerous.
The dust is also very toxic.
People who have been carving bones in Alaska for a ages w/out masks, eventually pay for it.
Btw, I still have quite a few sambar stags. Since ivory joints cost $75 or so, these should cost as much.
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rhncue said:
Yeah boy I wish, but I don't expect that there was any sambar in there. Being a knife Maker, I would dought he would have dropped any in there anyhow, even if He had some on hand, because It's near impossible to find now. I should have bought some up back a year or 2 when We were discussing It on here, because altough It was still hard to find, It was still around at that time.
I specifically got mostly tine pieces and smaller branch pieces though, for the reasons you mention. I did have alot of cull. I was pretty picky for the solid stuff when turning. What I noticed was what you said, some tines were solid, some were'nt & were still pithy as you say, and getting enough size out of them can be tricky. I did however get some solid stuff from other pieces as well, so I would'nt limit Myself to just tines after seeing that first hand with My own eyes, altough I would say the odds are better with tines just the same, so if I were buying a lot, My odds may be better going with tines only. There is alot of waste though as picky as I was being. I seem to be able to tell alot about the pieces By how well It machines when I face off. They also tend to weigh more, altough I have some that are solid, and not as heavy too. Most of these pieces were cut and hand picked from alot of antler he has cut up over time. It would take alot of racks to get what little I got out of It, if I had bought them whole instead. He's looking for the solid stuff too, only bigger then what we use for ferrules, so I did'nt get many joints out of it, and no butt pieces. I guess I need to find some good carabu/elk beams or rolls for that.
Greg
Mine.
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