[Regia-NA] proper saex handles.

[Yolli]

My apologies for being late getting to this one - as you all say, Kim, Andy
etc, their knife handles on everything were scraped smooth and then possibly
decorated.

I'll do this in 'rude' talk for nathan's sake -

THE VIKINGS AND ANGLO-SAXONS DIDN'T UNDERSTAND THE MEANING OF RUSTIC.  ;-{)

What I mean to say is that they didn't antiquate things to look old. Neither
did they ( it seems ) have trouble holding onto their weapon handles when
they were carved smooth either, blood or no blood on the grip....

The trouble with antler in this instance is that the best we have today is
smaller than they were able to get. Partly this is to do with the way we
today treat our herds of Red Deer - that being the most useful of the number
we have today.

Most are killed at the age of 3 for venison which yields a small antler -
not useless but just small in section. The most the bulls get to are 5 or 6
years before they die of too much sex and growing antler. If you are in an
area which has deer 'wild', then check in the third week of March for cast
antler - you just might get lucky. While I'm on about it, get the leg bones
as well if you can ( from butchered ones - their legs don't  normally fall
off in March )  - . If you need the bony joint between the antler and skull
then you will need the bull to be a slaughtered one - round about early
November I think - before the antler begins to scar over and separate.

Pere Davids deer whilst a Jonnie Foreigner, has very dense antler but rather
short height wise. I did think that these might be very useful for combs...

Roe deer. Hmmm a waste of space antler wise.

Fallow deer. Well, these chaps seem to have plenty of antler, but the bulk
of it is too thin in section - even the cancellous tissue that can be
compressed near the outer layer of very dense antler doesn't make up for it
really. The tines are OK as is the main trunk near the skull, but on balance
I don't buy it where I can get hold of Red deer.

Moose or Elk. Not having had any of these/this, I can't really say. But my
inclination is tat it must be pretty good as the walls are very dense - and
I'd love to play with some.

Reindeer or Caribou. I have some tops. Now as to date I haven't cut any up,
but it should be good as the Vikings did use it a fair bit. Again age is a
factor. I love to get a rack of a mature animal and try half of it.


Any help?

Roll.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Knight" <knight1066@hotmail.com>
To: <list-regia-na@lig.net>
Sent: Tuesday, December 03, 2002 6:07 AM
Subject: [Regia-NA] proper saex handles.


>    Hello everyone.
>                  Since the list is quiet I guess I'll throw one out.
>
>   I have pieces of antler already cut down to handle sizes and was
wondering
> if a proper saex handle would be filed down smooth or keep the the
textured
> antler surface. also if filed down what would I use to etch a design on
the
> handle?
>
>                                         the guy likes antler.
>                                           Chris Knight