drilling deer antler

[falcn63]

Does anyone have a good method for drilling holes for tubes in deer antler blanks. I have never done one before and would like to try it, however I am having difficulties drilling due to the curved nature of the antlers. I have picked the straightest portion on the antler but there is still a good curve to it. Do I just need to find some antler will some straighter sections? Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[bjackman]

Greg,
Try mounting the blank between centers on your lathe and then do some "preliminary rounding"
Stop when you get a cylinder, (or pretty close to one), then you will have a much easier time drilling straight through.

 

[Skye]

That's pretty much what I do, but I only round about an inch of it, then put that inch in the 4-jaw and drill on the lathe.

 

[laspringer]

falcn63,
sometimes it is nice to have some of the rough part of
the antler not turned out.

Alan

 

[DocStram]

There are some great threads in the archives on antler drilling. I do quite a bit. Here's my advice: wear a respirator. Open your windows. Run your air scrubber. Then, be prepared to be frustrated if you think you have a piece with just "a litte" curve in it and you think you'll sneak in a straight hole. That's why people suggest rounding em on your lathe first.

 

[ctEaglesc]

I normally drill mine on the lathe because it is the best way to determine if the blank you have will blkess you with a "bark" face on the pen.
If you use bjackmans method( turn between centrers first) ther will be a "strobe effect that with experience will tell you if you have enough "meat"in the center to get a drill bit through.
If you have a Beall chuck(The most accurate) or a scroll chuck you can then chuck it up and drill it.
Not have either one of those.
You only need one right angle to refrence it in a drilling vice.
I started out by cutting a good size piece and putting it in a parallel jaw clamp.
I had an oddball 12" BEssy that worked well for this.
I layed it on my bandsaw sled and ripped one straight side.
Turn it 90* and make another rip.
Take care to keep the line you are cutting clear of the blade, that is to say have the wast section stand proud of the jaws of the clamp.
Clear as mud huh?

 

[Joe Melton]

To echo, somewhat, other's comments, an antler pen is more interesting if you have some "bark" showing. If you drill through the center of the antler piece, you are probably not going to get any bark showing on the finished pen. You really need to drill closer to one side to achieve this, assuming your piece is thick enough to do this.
What I do is put the piece between centers, but not centered on the antler. The live and dead centers are offset from the center of the antler piece. As was said, when the piece is spinning on your lathe, you will see the outline (shadow) of the antler, and can see if there is going to be enough space to drill the hole. If not, move it.
You don't need to turn the complete antler piece round before drilling. You just need to get enough turned off so you can put the piece between the "V"s on your vise to hold it straight upright.
Once the piece is mounted in your vise, you can shift the vise around to help you drill closer to an edge with bark.
Also, I find that using a roundnose scraper on this first rounding is smoother than using a gouge. A gouge is more likely to grab, causing the dead center to tear out some of the end of the antler piece. Of course, if you start with a piece that is at least a quarter inch longer than the tube, you are accounting for this possibility.
Hope this helps.
Joe

 

[ctEaglesc]

Also if you have a Steb or Steb type center that will help

 

[jtate]

Let me echo Doc's admonition - WEAR YOUR MASK PROTECT YOUR LUNGS! My understanding is that the microscopic particles that come off the ankle as you cut/sand are kind of jagged and once you breath them in, it's next to impossible to cough them out. Best to keep them out in the first place.

I;ve done a few antler pens and struggled with the curve thing. I'm considering casting them in resin and having a nice square block to drill into.

Also, apply a sanding sealer before you sand. This really matters because the grit form tyhe sand paper gets in to pores and can discolor the material.

I used used some plexiglass/acetone mixture under a vaccum to pseudo-stabilize some once and I was really happy with the results of that.

Julia

 

[jtate]

Here's a link to a segmented pantler pen I did with padouk. Lesson learned: use sanding sealer! Keep the wood dust out of the pores of the antler.

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2289754880050844465iBSnAA

Also, right at the joint between the upper and lower sections there's a piece of antler that's cut perpendicular to the whole antler instead of being drilled parallel to the marrow. I like the way this section turned out. It's form the same piece of antler but somehow looks more like ivory.

Julia

Julia

 

[cozee]

I can draw a straight line. I can even do it with my eyes closed (years of airbrushing t-shirts has helped!!) but put any type of power tool in my hand and I will quickly obiverate that line! I have mounted on my DP two sighting lasers, 90 degrees apart. To drill antler, or any other blank, I simply use my redneck vise (Channel Locks) to hold and postion item to be drilled within the lasers and I instantly see the line of travel the bit will take. Minor adjustments of the positioning of my vise and I get the hole where I want it. Easy enough. Works on blanks of any shape. No pre-turning, no fancy blank vises, no saws, dynamite, acts of Congress, or divine interventions. The lasers are also easily repositioned for other drilling purposes so they fulfill more than one process. I don't recall where I got them but the pair was under $20. No digital camera or I'd offer up a pic or two.

I second the idea of good ventilation. While turning it isn't to bad, no worse than having teeth done at the dentist but when drilling the soft marrow of the antler, peeee-uuuu!! I grew up on a hog farm and let me tell ya, drilling antler stinks!!!!

 

[alamocdc]

PHD vise... perfect every time. []