Making an antler Sgian Dubh...?

[Piedmont Highlander]

I may be wading in over my head here (not uncommon), but now that I'm fitted with most of the stuff I need for a kilt, my thoughts are turning toward a sgian dubh. I've looked on eBay and there are certainly a lot of crappy, cheap ones available. But knowing what I know about knives and not wanting to ever own a mediocre piece of steel, even if it is decorative, I have started researching buying a blank and making my own. I looked at www.lochnessorigins.com and they certainly have the right steel (high carbon...the only way to fly, imho), but I'm no wood carver and I wanted to see if anyone knew about using antler. I saw the recommendation about Vince Evans' book and since I don't have a lathe or any carving skills, I'm thinking antler is where I should put my efforts. Horn/bone has its own issues, of course, but something about it appeals to me. At least for the first one.

Does anyone have any experience or words of wisdom for me? Or maybe the place to start looking for making a handle out of antler? Or even thoughts about why I should go in another direction. I have made knife handles in the past, but doing something decorative is more than I'm up for right now.

[Father Bill]

Works much like wood; accepts epoxy.

[sydnie7]

From what I've read here: be sure to wear a mask/ avoid breathing any dust from cutting/working. And evidently you can soak it, use the softened center to set the blade but it'll stink like crazy while wet.

[Destin_scot]

I've made several sgian brews from white tail deer antler, I've turned a dirk handle from moose antler, so though I am far from a master at working with antler, I can pretty much answer any question that you might have.

So far, all the replies are pretty much on mark. You don't "need" a dust mask when working with antler, (I haven't used one), but good ventilation is essential, if I had had one, a dry-wall sanding mask would have been appreciated when I was sanding the antler with a belt sander. The dust goes everywhere, and it will stink; (frictional heat or heat from flame will do this, if you know what any kind of animal hair smells like when it burns, this can be exponentially worse) .

As to glues, Father Bill is correct that epoxy is a good choice, but use a very high quality epoxy, and something that will set in about 30 minutes, fast set epoxies are not as strong and you may find that you have to reposition the blade.

Don't boil the antler to soften it, it will take forever to soften and it probably will not turn out like you expect. Plus it will take forever to dry as well, and most glues won't absorb into the porous pith of the antler if it is in any way damp, (CA glue will, but water speeds the curing process for CA glues, and this is probably not what you want).

Use a sharp drill bit to drill out the hole for the shank/tang of the blade, and clear the hole often. I've broken drill bits that got stuck in the "pith" of the antler. The drill bit should be about 2 - 3 times the size of the shank/tang of the blade.

The shank/tang of the blade will seat in the glue better if it has been abraded with coarse sand paper or has barbs or threads on it.


I'll try to attach the photos of the sgian brews shortly


sgianbrew1.JPG

sgianbrew2.JPG

[Piedmont Highlander]

Very nice work! I'm curious how much sanding it takes to smooth out the antler so it feels good in your hand. How did you get your hands on moose antler?

I'm wondering how necessary it is to have fittings where the blade joins the handle. I'll have to look up some other pictures...

[Dughlas mor]

Yes, those are about the nicest sgian brus I`ve seen. Some, if not most antler sgians go without the metal fitting, or bolster, where blade meets handle, but to my eye, a bolster looks much better. If your tang is round and the shoulder of the blade is square, it isn`t too hard to drill out a piece of brass and braze it in place. A bit of careful filing may be in order. Antler and brass both shape and sand easily, and it isn`t difficult to take either through the grits up to say 600, from where polishing can commence.