moose antler.....billets?

[nativenoobowyer86]

hey guys, i just received this set of moose antlers from a friend back home.  i was wondering how you would cut it up for billets, i have a bandsaw so i can cut it well enough, i was more wondering where i cut it, at the base of the tines? whatever size i want? the more the merrier or just the nice big heavy ones at the base??

also

i waas wondering what else i could use these for, of a primitive nature.  knapped knife handles and antler tips for arrows aree kinda obvious, what else do you do with your antler?

[mullet]

 For two billets cut it at the beginning of the base and then cut it where it meets the paddle and first tip. You can cut the tips and use them for indirect percussion flaking or knife handles. The paddle can be cut and ground into points, knife scales, tip overlays or whatever you come up with.

[aaron]

moose antler is very dense with less spongy stuff than other antlers.
for billets, cut as close to the skull as possible- this will give you an even longer life and more weight. I just use a hack saw. Would you be interested in a trade for one billet? I have obsidian and other things...

[mullet]

Close to the skull is what I meant, too. That piece from the ridges to the skull is some dense stuff.

[nativenoobowyer86]

Thanks guys, thats the input i was hopin for   I was excited when i made arrangements for this rack, then promptly forgot about it.  Now imm pumped to grab the hacksaw and start cutting

aaron - My rock supply is low and i have nothing to smash with my soon-to-be moose billet.  I was going to post in the trading section but if you have some to trade it would save me the trouble   send me a PM

[YosemiteBen]

I am jealous! I canusually get people to give me deer antler but it is usually dried out and not good for knapping - lots of knife handles though.  Have fun with those.

[fishfinder401]

would you be interested in possibly trading for some  of the slightly smaller tips, ?

[nativenoobowyer86]

so here are the big billets. and a large tine. rough from the bandsaw.  aaron has dibs on one large billet and the middle piece.

Fishfinder - i will run back out and check em out. a couple of them were roughed up at the tip.

[fishfinder401]

ok, thanks

[nativenoobowyer86]

how does this one look Fishfinder?

[fishfinder401]

that looks nice , by chance is there a second one similar to that, im going to be using it for the tips on a warbow

[nativenoobowyer86]

there is one more small one that i dont want, it isnt identicle tho, slightly less pronounced hook and slightly mor rounded at the tip. im on dad duty now so i will hafta snap a pic later tonite

[fishfinder401]

that's fine, all i need is similar size, what would you want to trade for?

[nativenoobowyer86]

i could really use some feathers, backstrap sinew, im almost out of pitch, knapping stone, b-50. rawhide strips. a shunned lower quality stave

[aaron]

here's the obsidian the large chunk is rainbow. The biface in there shows you what might be in there- it's from the same rock. there will be some bits that have color like the biface and also some layers with out so much color. When you spall it you will see that if you look at in sunlight, it will look different, depending on which way you rotate it. The smaller chunk is mahogany. I don't have a scale,, but i think the two big chunks are about 20 lbs together, and i will chuck in spalls like in the photo if it's under 20 lbs. The biface in the photo is my first attempt at a danish dagger- made before i really knew anything about the things!