Replies

1. 
   flairwoodworks | Feb 15, 2009 10:05am | #1

   Gary,

   I'm in the same boat as you are. I have a section of antler which I want to turn. I have heard that it makes quite the smell. I don't know if it is comparable to hide glue (some call that bad) or if antler really smells foul. Now, there is a difference between antler and horn. Horn is solid, whereas antler is like straws.

   Let us know how it goes.

   Chris @ www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com
   (soon to be www.flairwoodworks.com)

    - Success is not the key to happines.  Happiness is the key to success.  If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer

2. 
   Thorvald | Feb 15, 2009 11:52pm | #2

   I have a few deer antlers waiting for me when I get 'round to them, so I've wondered about this too.  I hadn't ever checked before, but a quick Google search yields a number of promising paths including http://www.woodturningvideosplus.com/deer-antler.html

   Would be nice to hear how it works out for you.

    

   Verne

   If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is there to cut it up and make something with it . . . what a waste!

3. 
   Wingdoctor | Feb 16, 2009 05:09am | #3

   If you make pens from antler, any type, it is best to have a section of antler close to the pen diameter so that you do not have to remove a lot of the diameter. The soft center will be smaller on the smaller id sections also. It is artistically pleasing to have some of the original surface unturned to show what the original material was also. Any antler material will stink when heated, and all turning, drilling, buffing tools will produce heat and odor. It is not harmful and goes away as the antler cools. But it do stink while working!!

   I used to make a lot of knife handles from antler and know the smell well.

   Bruce

   "A man's got to know his limitations." Dirty Harry Calahan
1. 
   Loumaster | Feb 16, 2009 04:44pm | #4

   I've made several pens from antler. Each antler is a little different, with different proportions of core and slight variations of color. Smaller antlers usually work better since you can sometines get some of the outer surface texture and curves to blend in with the shape of the pen. For an elk antler, try to use the tips that will be a little closer to pen diameter. Antler is pretty tough, it turns similar to acrylics, so you will have to sharpen your tools a little more often. If you get into the spongy center, you might have to fill in some of the pores with CA glue. for a finish, I sand down to 400 grit and use a wax finish. There's no paticular health risks that i know of.

1. 
   flairwoodworks | Feb 17, 2009 05:06am | #5

   Does anyone have any experience with turning turkey bones?Chris @ http://www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com(soon to be http://www.flairwoodworks.com)

    - Success is not the key to happines.  Happiness is the key to success.  If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer

1. 
   Thorvald | Feb 17, 2009 06:47am | #6

   I don't know if you intended that to be funny Chris, but I hit the floor laughing.  :>)Verne

   If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is there to cut it up and make something with it . . . what a waste!<!----><!----><!---->

1. 
   flairwoodworks | Feb 17, 2009 07:19am | #7

   Funny-man Verne, that questions was completely serious. Maybe I should rephrase that suchly: Does anyone have any experience turning turkey bones with regular turning tools?Chris @ http://www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com
   (soon to be http://www.flairwoodworks.com) - Success is not the key to happines.  Happiness is the key to success.  If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer

   Edited 2/16/2009 11:21 pm by flairwoodworks

2. 
   dgreen | Feb 17, 2009 07:32am | #8

   I turn my turkey bones into soup. 

    

   ................................................

   Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.~ Denis Diderot

1. 
   flairwoodworks | Feb 17, 2009 08:31am | #9

   What speed do you set your lathe to?Chris @ http://www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com(soon to be http://www.flairwoodworks.com)

    - Success is not the key to happines.  Happiness is the key to success.  If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer

2. 
   dgreen | Feb 17, 2009 08:34am | #10

   Simmer of course! 

    

   ................................................

   Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.~ Denis Diderot

3. 
   Wingdoctor | Feb 17, 2009 06:41pm | #11

   It is not turning but some people do make things from turkey bones. Check out this video. :)

   Bruce"A man's got to know his limitations." Dirty Harry Calahan

1. 
   flairwoodworks | Feb 18, 2009 04:25am | #12

   It's not a video of Don making soup, is it?Chris @ http://www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com(soon to be http://www.flairwoodworks.com)

    - Success is not the key to happines.  Happiness is the key to success.  If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer

2. 
   Wingdoctor | Feb 18, 2009 05:05am | #13

   No, it is a video of a woman that cleans turkey bones and then makes jewlery and nick-nacks from them. That is carrying being Green a little too far.

   Bruce"A man's got to know his limitations." Dirty Harry Calahan

4. 
   TomHigby | May 14, 2009 12:53am | #14

   Antler is actually bone.  That's why the center of a large piece will be spongey.  It will strink when worked with power tools because of its dead cellular content.

   Tom

1. 
   Eef | May 14, 2009 03:30am | #15

   hey tom,isn't antler keratin, the stuff of which fingernails are made? i have worked with mule deer antlers that i've picked up in the national forest up the street. when cutting into it, the spongy center appears to be bone-like, but i guess it is membrane-like stuff that circulates nutrients and blood.
   there was a time that i made small items out of beef bones, shaping them on a grinder. the smell was so bad that i seriously upset everyone within a 50 yard radius of the grinding process. a significant kabosh was put on the whole operation...eef

1. 
   saschafer | May 14, 2009 03:41am | #16

   Horn is a keratin sheath surrounding a core made of bone. Antlers are essentially all bone.

   -Steve

    

1. 
   Eef | May 14, 2009 05:49pm | #17

   steve,

   people, going way back, got antlers to become malleable by soaking them in water.  this must have been an important and valuable procedure given the strong properties of antlers. 

   thanks for the information.

   eef

2. 
   TomHigby | May 16, 2009 01:20am | #18

   No, the antler is not keratin.  When the antler forms it is covered with skin and blood vessels, which dry up and are scraped off, leaving bone.  They replace the antlers every year.  This is unique to the deer family, including moose and elk.  Cattle, sheep, goats, bison, and such animals retain their horns for their life time. Those horns have a boney core covered by keratin.  The prong-horn is in its own family, and shares features of horn and antler.

   Tom

1. 
   Eef | May 16, 2009 03:13am | #19

   tom,
   those pesky and unclassifiable pronghorn. about ten years ago i was meandering through the buenos aires wildlife refuge, just north of sasabe arizona, and stumbled upon a herd of eight pronghorn. they allowed me to watch them for a good ten minutes or so and then the big male of the group let out a "beller" and the lot of them made out into the desert.
   quite the sight!
   thanks for responding.
   eef

   Edited 5/15/2009 8:14 pm ET by Eef