Antler Pen

[mudder]

A guy I work with commissioned me to make a pen from the antler of the first Whitetail his grandson got. He wanted to have it mounted but his deadeye grandson shot the poor critter in the head.

Hope you like it.

Antler is very hard and stinks badly when turned.





Mudder

[Whaler]

Mudder

That is nice but I know the smell, not pleasent. Years ago I made some knife handles from antlers, it took days to get the smell out of the shop.

[mudder]

You are not kidding, but for $75.00 cash in advance I'll put up with it.
I did not set the price, I really did not want to do it but he begged me and when he waved the cash under my nose I took it. Only stipulation was that I had to have it to him by Monday.

The picture does not do this pen justice, the shades of purple in this pen is fantastic. I don't really want to give it up.


Mudder

[mater]

Excellent work Mudder.

[Scottydont]

Very cool Scott. I have not gotten up enough courage to do antler yet.

[GeekMom]

Beautiful, Scott! Other than working outside, do you have to work any differently with antler than with wood? And a dumb question - does the pen still smell after you put the finish on it?

[mudder]

quote:Originally posted by GeekMom

Beautiful, Scott! Other than working outside, do you have to work any differently with antler than with wood? And a dumb question - does the pen still smell after you put the finish on it?

Besides the smell, antler is not very hard to work with. I always use the polyurethane glue for my pens (never had a blowout with it). You just have to be very careful because of the intermitted cuts until you get it to size. Once to size I took light, light, light cuts with a very sharp skew to shape it. All in all I would say it works like a hard corian. Be sure your tools are SHARP. (I learned on Saturday there is no such thing as too sharp a cutting tool and the sharper it is the easier it is to control).

Even if you are working outside I suggest a very good mask be worn while sanding. This stuff tastes worse than it smell and seems to coat your nasal passages so you smell and taste it for days. DAMHIKT.

Mudder

<edit>
forgot the last answer: After it is sealed and finished there is no more foul odor to it.

[kwgeorge]

That is one fine looking pen Scott. I tried to work with a piece of antler once and it smelled like burning hair. That is one of the odors I have a real hard time with and makes me nauseous to smell it. Needless to say I did not finish the project so not only do you have my admiration for making such a nice looking piece but also for being able to put up with that odor while making it.