Deer Leg Bone

[bgmills]

I have some deer leg bones that I would Like to use for knife handles. I have boiled them a couple of times to get rid of marrow etc. On one bone the "knuckle" fell off after boiling and the other stayed attached. Will it eventually fall off. How do I go about preparing these bones to be professionally stabilized? Can the bone be dyed after stabilization? Any info on how to prepare, dye, use these bones would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance. I will be using the bone for stick tang type knives.

Bill

 

[Darrin Sanders]

On whitetail deer the front leg knuckles will come off, on the back legs they won't. Do any dying before stabilization. You can dye them with Rit fabric dye or Fiebings leather dye. With Rit just soak the bone in hot water with dye added until you get the color you desire. With Fiebings just rub it on with a rag or cotton ball. Hope this helps.

 

[indian george]

Here is a knife that I completed this week. I stabilized and dyed it.

 

[bgmills]

Indian George, Thats a beautiful knife and I really like the deer bone the way you finished it. Did you stabilize with min wax wood hardener or do you have a more sophisticated method as mentioned in many threads? What did you dye the bone with? How many times did you boil the bone and what solution did you boil it in? How long did you let it dry or age? The bones I have are from the hind legs and the one that lost the "knuckle" in the boiling process looks like the one you built. The other one still has the knuckle. Did you pin the hidden tang? Sorry for all the simple questions. Thank you in advance.

Bill

 

[indian george]

OAL 13 1/2", Blade 8" and handle 4 1/2". Blade is 1084 done with tool black with vine filework on the spine, guard is wrought iron anchor chain, handle is dyed and stabilized deer leg bone and a copper washer and nut on the end.

I put it into the soup with red pigment and I let it dry and redid it, in the soup that is brown color from all the woods that were in it previously.

Then soup is B-72 Paraloid, Min-Wax Woodhardener and acetone. It was done under vacuum.