Using Bone for Handle

[blkbear]

Hello all. I am interested in using bone for knife handles and need some advice on how to prepare bone for use.
If I start with raw bone do I need to cook it and then stabalize it before use as handle material on a knife??
Thank

[JPH]

Hello:

I use A LOT of this stuff..what "condition" is the "raw" bone?? Fresh from the critter raw or are you getting them from a rendering/slaughter house??

I get most of mine from a rendering firm down in Texas so it is so called "steam cleaned" but still a bit "greasey" and needs to be
processed further" before I use it. Which isn't that hard to do.

So what kind of bone do you have and what is the "overall condition"???

This is a very nice grip material, just cant figure out why more folks aren't using it...

JPH

[blkbear]

I am getting the raw bone from a butcher after he has trimmed off what he uses. Still bits of stuff on the bone and the marrow is still in.

Brian

[Víctor Zamora]

it´s a great material for knife handles; The raw I use I process it into a boiling water solution of limestone to help to degrease for 3 hors almost, and a misxture of ammonia and water to 10%, then stabilize it.

[Matthew Groves]

What about the "found out in the pasture" variety? Do those work? (assuming they're not too far gone)

[JPH]

Brian:

Have any ant hills close by?/ a couple of days on one of those and it should be picked pretty clean..if not then you can boil it clean in some water and TSP thrown in..this will get the gunk off..It will take about two or three hours... After the TSP boil,. soak in clean water for a couple more hours and then let air dry. This is what I do...then you can either finish it up as is or you can dye it like I do..

You may need to coat it in cyanoacrylate to staibilze the surface but that is easy enough to do..

I love bone..I must run through 500 pounds of it a year...

JPH

[blkbear]

Thanks for the info and the tip on using TSP. I have been boiling the bone for 6-7 hours in water alone and there is still some collagen on the bone. I will immediatley put some TSP in the water. We have been painting so have TSP on hand. Yes - I was also thinking about letting Mothe Nature do her thing with future bone purchases but with winter coming on I think boiling in water with TSP will be the answer.

Are there any other solutions that you have used to stabalize bone nefore installation on a knife?? I have a beautiful big chunk of maple (2ft high by 2.5 ft in diameter) that will keep me in handle material as well for quite some time. I will be putting some in to stabalize this week.

Brian

[ApprenticeMan]

I really am not a big fan of bone as a handle, it is nice, REALLY NICE on some things, but on others it is just blasphemous.

[Dodge]

Originally Posted by JPH

Brian:

Have any ant hills close by?/ a couple of days on one of those and it should be picked pretty clean..if not then you can boil it clean in some water and TSP thrown in..this will get the gunk off..It will take about two or three hours... After the TSP boil,. soak in clean water for a couple more hours and then let air dry. This is what I do...then you can either finish it up as is or you can dye it like I do..

You may need to coat it in cyanoacrylate to staibilze the surface but that is easy enough to do..

I love bone..I must run through 500 pounds of it a year...

JPH

Jim, What is TSP? I'm intrigued with this bone idea that I have heard called "Bovine Ivory" Cyanoacrylate: Super Glue?? Need to use vacuum chamber for this procedure or just paint with glue?

[blkbear]

TSP - I belive it is short for tri-sodium phosphate (I threw out the carton with the complete name on it) and you can get it at paint stores for one. It is used as a cleaner for surface prep on walls that you are about to paint.
We have used it as such when repainting our house.
I dumped 2 tablespoons in water last night that I was boiling the bones in to clean them. WOW!! After an hour the bones were clean as a whistle. I soaked them, to remove any residual chemical residue, and dried them overnight and I am going to start carving with them tonight.
Actually the first use for the bone is for horns on a Musk Ox soapstione sculpture I am completing.
Next use will be for handles on a series of RR spike knives I am working on.
I will post pics when thwey are done. Please note that I am a slow worker in this area. My wife forbides me to work with sharp stuff if I am tired and after 31 years of wedded bliss she knows of what she talks about. So - I don't work every evening.

Brian