ancient sea cow bone

[tmr]

i anyone have experience using sea cow bone for handles........does it need stabilizing?......it seems to have a porous texture that will collect buffing compound if polished........i was thinking a super glue finish.....any suggestions?

 

[FORGE]

Here are a couple I did with Sea Cow.
Like any bone or horn if you grind to deep and hit the marrow you are in trouble.
I ground the handle to shape, applied a coat of CA glue to fill any small pores ground it off and buffed.

 

[tmr]

I was hoping that super glue would seal it good enough as i don,t have a stabilizer set up........the bone i have appears to be a rib bone and i got 5 good sized handles out of it........it appears to be similar density all the way thru on the section cuts .....have you ever used it as handle slabs on a full tang?

 

[Mister Coffee]

@FORGE: Gotta go OT just to say: That Damascus is really, really impressive. And I don't even like Damascus. . The handles are nice, too.

 

[FORGE]

I was hoping that super glue would seal it good enough as i don,t have a stabilizer set up........the bone i have appears to be a rib bone and i got 5 good sized handles out of it........it appears to be similar density all the way thru on the section cuts .....have you ever used it as handle slabs on a full tang?

Any time I am using horn or bone I always opt for a hidden tang knife. It seems every time I used slabs or scales on a full tang blade they always shrunk ,even when stabilized and I hate that feel on a knife handle.

 

[Smallshop]

I hate that feel on a knife handle.

absolutely. I have a friend that is a pretty good maker...almost all his handles do not fit in six months....he does lots of spacers and dis-similar materials....very catchy looking...but....time always strikes back...lol. He sells about 10 to my one...lol..