[Woodcarver] carving a deer antler

[Sylda]

Wow, Patricia, eggshell carving sounds very difficult.  Can you tell us more
about it?  What kind of knife do you use?  How do you keep from breaking it?
Sylda

On 10/24/04 12:38 PM, "Alex Bisso" <albisso at bresnan.net> wrote:

> 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