What to treat antler and leather with?

H

hdmc1974

Joined
Jun 1, 2015
Messages
77
Morning friends. I'm looking for advice on a finish for the antler and possibly the Leather on this and other knives that I make. Any help is greatly appreciated. And any critiques on the knife are also appreciated. Sorry for the poor photography. Karl
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Hello,
your style is really similar to mine!
I soak the leather in linseed oil, for the stag, I use my own, cheap, patented "Fetting-Messer" recipe ;)
Take brown onion skin and boil it in water for some minutes...
add some vinegar..
put your handle in there for maybe an hour.
The result will be yellowish / brown


Regards
Nicolas
 
surfer said:
Hello,
your style is really similar to mine!
I soak the leather in linseed oil, for the stag, I use my own, cheap, patented "Fetting-Messer" recipe ;)
Take brown onion skin and boil it in water for some minutes...
add some vinegar..
put your handle in there for maybe an hour.
The result will be yellowish / brown


Regards
Nicolas
Click to expand...
Beautiful pieces! Thank you for your secret recipe. I'm thinking about drilling and pinning the antler. What do you think?

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I've found there is a diff between using sheds as opposed to using an antler from a killed animal...I had some very old Mule deer sheds& moose antler ...The best result came from using a med brown minwax stain..Rubbed out after maybe 20 mins.then let dry overnight.Always rub off any shiny that remains & Remove Lint & Dust..I sealed it with Formbies tung oil & Tru-oil blend...Also I have used micro crystalline wax & few drops of mineral oil for a satin finish on antlers...Keep a test piece from each animal, really helps to try first on the sample...I do the same with scraps of wood from a project...Mike in ct
 
hdmc1974 said:
Beautiful pieces! Thank you for your secret recipe. I'm thinking about drilling and pinning the antler. What do you think?

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Click to expand...

Pinned stag is beautiful, but I think with todays epoxi glues, it's not neceseary, I never had a problem with a handle coming loose, even batoning, chopping etc. Drilling the tang could maybe create a breaking point.

Regards
Nicolas
 
I agree... pinned stag is beautiful. for stacked leather and antler handles, here's what I do:
-soak the leather in thompsons water seal for as long as I can... I have pieces in a jar that have been there for over a year now (not because it takes that long, I just leave them in till I'm gonna use them)
-stack the leather as you intend to use it, then press it all in a vice to make the leather as squished and tight as you can and leave it over night... this will squeeze out any extra liquid and leave the leather as stiff as possible.
-once the knife is complete, i'll sand to 600 and either leave it natural colour or dye it with medium brown leather dye... this works for the rough parts of the antler as well
-last step is to warm the handle over a pot of melted carnuba wax and keep brushing the wax over the handle until the leather won't take any more
-buff ...with the leather stiff and hardened from the carnuba wax it will take a very similar finish to the handle (almost mirror)
note: I only use vegetable tanned leather for this as it seems to work the best. it's a bit of extra work, but it's worth it.

hope this helps
 
Thank you guys so much for all your advice. I have learned so much from the nice people on this forum. And I have never run into a single troll.

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