Fieldarcher

They are made from antler , camel bone and buffalo horn.

Now that I’m good to chainsaw carve again I’m finding it hard to stop doing these . Might just wait for warmer weather before venturing back up to the forest

What I used to do and still do use is like an air powered dremel that can run up to 100,000 rpm . At this speed there is no chatter/ very smooth cut . There are certain parts that after they are machined need to be hand dressed due to complex angles and this is what I did . Nothing focuses the mind like working on a £80k part with one slip possibly scraping the whole thing .

I’ve been chainsaw carving for 6 years and working with very high speed Die grinders (100,000rpm) for over 20 years on jet engines. This makes my time spent a bit different from the norm if you get what I mean . I timed this kilt pin and it took 3 1/2 hours with a few tea breaks .

It’s Damascus steel .

I’ve enjoyed learning how to do these .

A friend used to heat it to shape but I’ve not needed to do that yet . I’m an archer myself so appreciate what you are doing . My next project with antler is some carved handles for sheath knives .

I rigged up an extraction fan that sits on my bench and takes the worst of it outdoors. I only carve with very small cutters so the heat is low and there’s very little burnt smell , only dust

Hi Paul . The density is pretty much the same all the way down to the core which is soft , porous and discoloured. The points seem to be denser and whiter . The level of detail is really down to how small and sharp the tools are . Derek

This type of carving is new to me but to answer you’re question then I would say 4 inches from this set . The softer core is quite random and leaves variable wall thicknesses . I have been working toward matching what I carve to what the section will allow. The small dragon was carved around the core . The core was exposed at his belly and worked well with the colour change in highlighting this ringed feature. Another example was the dragon with the wing . This was carved from an upside down section just at the place where a point branches off . The slight natural webbing was what I carved the wing from . I’ve had the help of my wife in trying to whiten the darker section but without much success. Still learning and I’m going up north next month to get more antler and hopefully bigger ones that I can use in creating some very one off sheath knives .

Hi Paul. Thanks for that . You can find my other stuff or contact me on my carving page on Facebook. It’s called “ Caledonian Chainsaw Carving “. Not a business, just my hobby that became a passion. Cheers Derek

Couple more antler carvings I’ve done .

Came off the guy on the right ( red deer )

Thanks Harvey