Marrowless bone for carving?

K

Kavan

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Sep 28, 2015
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Hi everyone, newbie on the forum here. I got into working with wood and bone recently making an antler hiking pole . At the moment I'm only doing it for fun. About to make my first knife handle with thuya burl. But I've seen some amazing bone carved handles with intricate 3 dimensional carving, sculptures if you will. I'd love to try some myself but I can't figure out what bone to use because if you're carving a full on sculpture you'd presumably need solid bone, not hollow or marrow filled bone. Anyone know of such a bone? Example attached. Thanks in advance
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Those ere probably ivory handles you saw.

Culpepper sells lots of bone for handles, so check out their stock.
 
What I don't understand is that all bone I've worked with so far is hollowed to remove the marrow. There is no store that I can find selling any type of bone with a considerable width, which is presumably because the bone blanks and scales are made from the bone surrounding the marrow. Even if there is a type of bone or horn out there that isn't hollowed, I wouldn't know which it is and sellers don't specify. I'm not looking to engrave a full tang blade with thin scales, I'm hoping to carve a sculpted hidden tang, requiring solid bone of around 3cm depth. Sorry my image link didn't work and thanks for your advice. https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=f...h33uAR6&biw=320&bih=440#imgrc=9ENShSCNXkTZDM:
 
Axis horn is good for carving as it it solid ivory with just a small vein hole running through the center.
 
A hidden tang will have a hollow center.

Some bone types are very tick and dense. Giraffe and camel are regularly used for knives and swords. large mammals have dense bones at the base of the tibia as well as thick femurs. What you want is a section of a round bone that is about the right diameter. Use the marrow channel for the tang and carve it to use the maximum depth available. I would go to a butcher shop or slaughter house and see if you can get some thick bone. Process it by boiling and soaking in peroxide.

Funny story, buy I bought a giraffe femur and tibia many years ago. They was being shipped from South Africa. I heard the gals at the store making a ruckus when the postman arrived. They were used to me receiving huge bundles of steel, planks of wood, and even mammoth tusks...but receiving two plastic wrapped bones that were something out of The Flintstones was a real surprise.
 
Ha, nice! I hope you guys can forgive my ignorance but this just isn't the kind of thing you can Google! I was considering buffalo horn tips, any thoughts on that? I'm on a pretty low budget so the really exotic materials like ivory are out of the question unfortunately, and so far I've been unable to find camel bone in any form other than the entire expensive bone or a tiny slither for making guitar bridges. Enquiring at the butchers sounds like a good idea, however I wouldn't know exactly what bones to ask for, and can't really get messy with stripping flesh and bleaching bones as my step mother would have a fit :-( thanks for all your replies
 
Filling out your profile would help us a lot. Knowing your age, location, occupation ( student?) and hobbies will help us a lot.

Buffalo rounds and tapers are fairly cheap from most of the knife suppliers. They carve well. Culpepper's sells bone and antler. Almost all the knife supply companies sell handle material, including bone and horn.

If your parents aren't on board with you making knives, it is a good idea to wait a few more years. How old are you?
 
I'm 25 and living with my father temporarily after things didn't work out in London post degree. There's no issue with me making knives, it's just that my step mother understandably dislikes maceration, animal skulls, peroxide baths and the like. She's blissfully unaware that I have a box full of found skulls whitening in my neighbour's shed! Knife handle crafting is something I'm trying just for fun which is why I don't want to invest too much financially at such an early stage. I already made a hazel hiking pole with an antler handle that folds down into a tent post and walking stick, but a knife handle is much more intricate and challenging. I may be moving house soon giving me more freedom to do as I please, but the thing about me is that I become wildly obsessive over projects for a short time then lose interest and find another obsession all too quickly, so I want to finish this handle before the ball stops rolling. I've roughed out a thuya burr blank for the bulk of the handle, and black fibre liner, camel bone spacers, abalone inlay and black buffalo horn tip is in the post. (I'm excited)
 
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