how do i make a deer antler knife handle?

i have a few KNIVES at home and still am making some, my dads friend gave me some deer antler to make handles out of but i dont really know how. i did make 1 but it is pretty dodgy all i did was drill a hole in the antler and glue the knife blade in. i want it really shiny and clean like u get in hunting shops. what makes a better handle, if you cut it in half or just leave it and make a hole in the antler

I know of a couple of ways of doing it depending on if you plan on having a butt cap on the knife. The simplest way is to carefully cut the antler in half, create a cavity in each half of the knife that fits your tang, glue it back up and then sand and polish it till it looks like one piece again and you can’t see the seam.

The other way is to have a stick tang that will go all the way through the antler and be threaded on the end. Then you can run the drill hole through (which is tough because most of the time you are running 4″ or so of depth on a full size handle) glue it up and then screw down a butt cap on the end to help stiffen up the grip to handle fit.

In both cases, you probably need to run a guard or at least a pommel that you can butt the antler up against. You may also want to pin through the antler into the handle to help maintain position. Mosiac pins in particular make a nice contrast to the antler.

There are a number of good books on knife making – Wayne Goddard “$50 Knife Shop” is pretty good, “The Complete Bladesmith” – I don’t remember that author, David Boye’s “Complete Guide to Knifemaking” are all on my shelf and get referenced a fair bit.

Also, knifemakers are an interesting and friendly sort of people for the most part. If you look around you’ll probably find some in your area. Try checking out the American Bladesmith Society, alot of those guys make very traditional styles of knives and could help you out.

Thinkingblade

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