[Woodcarver] carving a deer antler

[Alex Bisso]

Jan says the phone number I gave for Kirt does not work.  You might try his
e-mail address: kcurtis at mcleodusa.net
Both the e-mail address and the phone number were good in August - don't
know what might have happened.
ALEX

-----Original Message-----
From: Alex Bisso [mailto:albisso at bresnan.net]
Sent: Sunday, October 24, 2004 11:39 AM
To: [Woodcarver]
Subject: RE: [Woodcarver] carving a deer antler


Hi Patricia - I will chime in here because I have cut into (for cane and
walking stick handles, not carving) a lot of antlers and have a good idea of
what you will find.  The main thing you have to consider is that the antler
is only solid in its outer shell.  The inside is very porous so you could
get into trouble if you carve deeply into it.  I would say you will find
1/8" to 1/4" (max) of carvable material on the outside of the deer antler
(they seem to be a bit more solid at the base and tips of the tines than in
the middle part).  Moose antlers are considerably more solid.  Recently I
was at a carving retreat where one group was carving moose antlers (I was
carving wood) and I noticed that even some of them had to soak some areas
with some type of glue (super glue I think) to firm it up before carving.  I
am not sure that even that would work with the amount of porousity in deer
antlers.  The instructor of that class was Kirt Curtis, a well-know wildlife
carver - bet he could answer your question very well.  His phone number is
319-477-4747.  If I were you I would try to design the piece so you do not
have to carve too deeply into it.
Alex Bisso
Billings, MT   59106

-----Original Message-----
From: woodcarver-bounces at six.pairlist.net
[mailto:woodcarver-bounces at six.pairlist.net]On Behalf Of Patricia
Richard
Sent: Monday, October 25, 2004 12:00 PM
To: woodcarver at six.pairlist.net
Subject: [Woodcarver] carving a deer antler


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Hi everyone!

I was recently given a deer antler to carve into a weasel.  I have never
carved an antler before, so I was wondering if anyone may have any advice or
tips for me, or if there's anything I should know about carving antler?  I'm
really new to carving to begin with, and I deal mainly with relief carving,
or carving into eggshells.  thanks a bunch!

Patricia
www.cccuts.com

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