Fieldarcher

What are they made from?

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

Looks good!
Looks nice. Thought something like that would take a lot longer but it does sound like you know what you are doing [emoji4]
 
What was it you did with the jet engines then?
 
 

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 .

They look fantastic to say the least. Any idea on how many hours it takes?

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 .

Is that Damascus " effect " or did you forge the blade to make Damascus steel ?  Nice by the way .

It’s Damascus steel .

I’ve enjoyed learning how to do these .

On fallow deer antler, the pith runs to within 1 or 1.5mm of the surface of the palms, the pith is not only porous it goes so soft in water you can cut it out with a spoon. Biggest advantage of working the palmate section is it becomes plastic with steam. This allowed me to inlay it in long strips into the compound curves of a crossbow stock.
  The workable thickness of the rolls is slightly thicker but the stems are not plastic with steam. Unfortunately even the tips of the tines have a workable thickness of only maybe 3mm
 

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 .

Beautiful but I bet your workshop stinks!

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

Am I right in saying, this would make it better for intricate carving?

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

Looks like its a lot more dense than the fallow I use. Whats the longest inch wide strip do you think you could get from one?

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 .

You have some great skill there m8 - give up the day job and get a shit load of antlers and you wont be out of work. I want one making, its going to be something Celtic or Saxon or tree related eg an oak leaf pendant.  Maybe an Anglo Saxon "tree of life" design

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 .

Very nicely done. What type of antler is it?

Came off the guy on the right ( red deer )

They are really good. That's some awesome skill.

Thanks Harvey

Wow they are so coool must have taken ages are they for sale be hard to price 
Ace work .
Cheers Mark 

They have all sold apart from the angel earrings/pendants ( comes with fitting for both . Average is about 4 1/2 hours and about £90 each . Lots of fake moulded ones online but the people who bought them knew what they were looking at . A few have gone to the states . Not really about the cash and I’ve almost run out of antlers so it’s back to the saws lol . Hoping to pick more up next month when I’m up in Lewis .

Hi guys.

I was injured at work and ended up with carpool Clyde tunnel syndrome. Here’s what I’ve been doing with antler while recovering.

Brilliant , as usual ! [emoji846]

Thanks

 

This one is chainsaw and blowtorch, no paint or stain .

Great stuff. Is that all burnt or stained and burnt?

Just a bit of mahogany stain , burn and oil ( nail varnish eyes )

Always like having a big bird in the forest . This girl is 6ft tall.

Good photo of the 3rd one down.

It’s a wall hanging about an inch thick . The coffee cup splash is a table lamp .

These guys was more popular than I thought