Looking for large flat bone

I am not really sure where exactly to put this, so if this is the wrong place feel free to move it.

I am working on a sheath for a knife and what I am wanting to do is make a medallion for the face of the sheath. Not from metal but from bone. I want to try my hand at carving an image onto/into the bone!

So what I am looking for is large flat or near flat pieces of bone on which to do this. Has anyone got any ideas of where to get such bone to work with??? Or what bone I need to be looking for???

I found some cow bones at the pet supply and if I can scale my drawings down a little it may work! I was wondering if maybe some of you who do scrimshaw or carving might have some better ideas on large flat bone!!!

Also has anyone got and idea of the process they go thru to clean and bleach the bone??? I have tried bleach and peroxide on bones in an attempt to clean and bleach with out a lot of luck.

I tried to make some turkey wingbone calls one time and soaked them in diluted bleach for a while without much seeming to move. They were not cleaning up and/or turning white. Sooooo I rinsed them and put them in diluted hydrogen peroxide with not so good results. The diluted hydrogen peroxide was very corrosive to the bone, it seems to burn up the bone!!! Could have been because the turkey bones are fairly delicate to begin with or maybe it was not diluted enough, I am not sure!! Anyway I am still trying to perfect that process or whitening the bone without damaging it!

Any information anyone would have on either of these subjects would be greatly appreciated!!

Not sure about how big you want but this place sells all kinds of horn/bones. Call and ask. If they do not have what you are looking for, they may have a suggestion.

DeMo

http://www.hideandfur.com/inventory/Skulls.html

How big of a medallion are you thinking? I've got some cow bones, been out in a field for a couple years, and some of the leg bones can yield a pretty decent size piece with a bunch of flattening and sanding. Some are fairly white as is, so I haven't really tried to whiten them. I've used them for scales and practicing scrimshaw. Any cattle farmers around you? When a cow dies, a lot of farmers just drag them off to the back forty with the tractor.

The thing with bones is they come white, grey or whatever and unless you are going to dye them they won't change color. To clean after stripping off the heavy stuff slow boil in water and TSP After the second time around -even - once they will be clean. Let the bones cool in the water as it does. Removing them may cause them to crack. Moose leg bones will give you material so very dense and often the color of mammoth ivory and will finish looking like it.
Frank

Bleach will soften bone. Use peroxide to whiten it.

OK this is what I am talking about doing. I drew this out on a cow bone I got from the pet store. Already cleaned and whitened but, I either got to learn to do this by shrinking my work or have a larger piece of bone.

By the time I got this drawn it takes up the entire width of the piece.

Once the bone was split the bone, the side the bear was drawn on is the cured side of the bone, which I think I can work with.

However you can look at the bottom of the pics to see what I am up against, even the flat side of the bone is not flat!! By the time I cut the curved edges off the face gets really narrow!!




IMG_2975 by Clifton Craft, on Flickr

IMG_2976 by Clifton Craft, on Flickr

IMG_2977 by Clifton Craft, on Flickr

IMG_2978 by Clifton Craft, on Flickr

IMG_2979 by Clifton Craft, on Flickr

Is it possible to flatten bone????? I have been told that you could flatten antler by boiling and pressing it flat while it was still very hot, will that work for bone? Ed

Ed I am not sure about that, I have flattened antler but I have this feeling it would not work as well with bone. I think my option is something that has a larger bone. The bone I drew this out on is a piece of leg bone from a cow. I am wondering if something like a buffalo or a giraffe leg bone might have a larger flat surface. My understanding of bone is the flat surface on a bone is where the large muscle is attached to the bone!!

My problem is I haven't done much artwork since about 1975. So I have got to scale down the image and still keep it looking realistic. I guess I need to practice more! LOL

[url]http://deepwater.org/bioteacher/11-Ecology/dermestids/colony-maintenance.htm

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Raymond thanks for the link. I read some today on how to whiten without bleaching so maybe I can put the whole process together now!

Oh I found a site that sells the large flat bone I was looking for! Check this out, turns out they are right here in Florida!

https://www.atlanticcoralenterprise.com/ProductCart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=23301&idcategory=0

I've done European mounts a few times. I use bleach powder and hair salon strength hydrogen peroxide. You can buy them at a beauty supplies outlet. They are very strong. My skulls end up snow white.

As far as the bone. I would look for large work horse bones. I had a guy give me Clydesdale leg bones a while back. They were huge. Large flat portions on them and very thick.

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Culpepper has bone in quite a few sizes. It might be worth checking them out at http://www.knifehandles.com/