Cracked antler

[Davidh14]

A customer purchased a bolt action pen with moose antler from me about 6 months ago. Today I spoke with her and she noticed it was cracked. Any ideas as to why it could have cracked?

 

[beck3906]

Likely problem is that it was not dry when you turned it. Antler is a natural product and therefore should be dried for a period of time.

Leaving in the sun will also causes antler pens to crack by speeding the moisture reduction.

 

[Davidh14]

That's kind of what I was thinking, being left in the heat. I will keep that in mind for the future. Thanks!

 

[SteveG]

I agree with above stated reasons, and will add that the blank failure may have been aggravated by glue contamination inside the tube, causing added stress to the blank/tube assembly when the hardware was pressed in.

Often time when a failure occurs (in pen making or any endeavor), it is the result of multiple factors, in effect "ganging up" to cause the failure. So, when you experience a problem, it is good to not stop looking for the cause once you discover A SINGLE POSSIBLE CAUSE. Keep looking to see if additional factors had come into play. Then you can correct for all in future efforts.

 

[Davidh14]

I agree Steve.

 

[farmer]

antler cracking

Antler wasn't properly dried ....

Didn't soak the antler in wood hardener .