Red Stag antler question

[reddwil]

Had a customer send me a full rack from a red stag to make her some pens from. The antler ended up being about 12 years old. I tried turning a couple Jr. gents from it, but the center is to pourous. I tried several coats of CA and polishing it out. Did not look to bad. My question is, is there a way to stabilize the antler before turning? The main problem I'm having is breakouts and crumbling while turning even when applying CA after a couple passes. I really want to get some pens out of it, the stag was killed by the ladys late husband, and the pens are for her son's.

 

[Daniel]

Red, I don't know that I have ever worked with Red Stag, But deer antler has an "Mantle" of hard material, surrounded by a punky softer material in the center.
First I realize it is already a challenge to hold the antler in a vice get it drilled accurately etc. So allow me to make this just a little harder. you want to try and select a piece of antler that will end up with the hard mantle still showing once it is turned to final diameter. If this cannot be done for some reason the only other thing I have done is to pour on CA. And I mean pour it on lots of it...no more. I think I have used as much as a full ounce on one blank. so lots of CA. If you can stay in the shop and breath you have not used enough. I will have to leave it to other for any other stabilizing suggestions.

 

[jskeen]

The red stag I have worked with is indeed very porous inside, more so than whitetail, but not as much as elk. Try to work with the tines out toward the tips, where the diameter at the small end is not much bigger than the bushing OD of your pen kit and you might be able to turn it with the large end still in the solid areas. If not, when you first hit the marrow, stop the lathe and pour on some thin ca, let dry and work slowly.

In order to drill as much through the center of the blank, I mount the undrilled section between centers and look down at it while it's spinning. You will be able to see the shadow or residual image of the final diameter of the piece USING THOSE CENTERPOINTS. You can adjust the centerpoints to maximize the size of this solid cylinder, and that will center the blank. Then turn roughly round so you can easily mount in your drilling vise or scroll chuck to drill. This process makes it much more likely that you will not break through the side when drilling on a curved section, and allows you to use smaller sections that are more solid.

OH, it's also a good idea to hit both ends well with CA before mounting on centers for turning, as this will help keep the centers eating too deeply into the marrow and possibly splitting the blank

 

[Chasper]

I've used some very old and pourus antler and I've usually made it work after enough CA. I agree with Daniel and others but I have has some success with another trick. Cut it to legnth for a half blank, set it on end before drilling, and pour thin CA into the upper end, it will run out of the other end if it is pourus enough so sit in on something disposable. Use accelerator and repeat until the thin CA stops disappearing into the pourus antler. You will still need to pour it on several times as you are turning.

 

[Daniel]

Thanks Gerry, I've thought about trying that but never have so did not know if it would actually work. nice to know it will. One warning though. with large amounts of CA accelerator will make it get real hot (as in smoking hot). Enough CA even without Accelerator can get hot as well.

 

[reddwil]

First off, thanks for all the comments. The antler I have is not the monster racks you see on TV. I'd say he is small. The tines are basically "U" shaped. I was able to drill out enough for one pen. The main beams are what I'm trying to work with, and like I said there very pourous with only about 1/8" of hard mantle. I played around last night and injected thin ca with a syringe. Worked pretty good. We'll see how it turns tonight.