{"id":2333,"date":"2013-08-27T19:29:09","date_gmt":"2013-08-27T19:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=2333"},"modified":"2014-04-17T20:34:30","modified_gmt":"2014-04-17T20:34:30","slug":"engraving-and-carving-antler-orca-knife","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=2333","title":{"rendered":"Engraving and Carving Antler – Orca Knife"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s my latest knife. It\u2019s a tiny deer antler Orca done in NW Native American style.\"Orca_Knife_Group_2Web\"<\/a> \"Orca_Knife_Group_1Web\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The knife is 3 3\/16 inches overall, with a 1 1\/4 inch long 1075 carbon steel through-tang blade. The antler has been aged with potassium permanganate. The handle is made from the last fork of a really old (and tiny) naturally-shed antler.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been experimenting with engraving and carving antler lately, and have come up with a combination of engraving the edges\/outlines with a Lindsay template onglette, carving out the background spaces with NSK and carbide burs, followed by some special little scrapers I\u2019ve made. Tiny flats help on occasion as well. Seems to work fairly well. You do need to take fairly light repeated cuts with the onglette, or the surface of the antler can tear.<\/p>\n

I was sort of surprised, because under the microscope carving antler at this tiny scale reminds me very much of carving ivory soap! What seems hard and unyielding with a standard knife is gentle and easy with tiny tools.<\/p>\n

Thanks for looking!<\/p>\n

Tom<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s my latest knife. It\u2019s a tiny deer antler Orca done in NW Native American style. The knife is 3 3\/16 inches overall, with a 1 1\/4 inch long 1075 carbon steel through-tang blade. The antler has been aged with … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[23,5,18,32,1],"tags":[36,9,3,7,21,4],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6qLAy-BD","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2352,"url":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=2352","url_meta":{"origin":2333,"position":0},"title":"Engraving and Carving Antler – Celtic Lizard Pendant","date":"September 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, engraving the tiny Orca knife in antler was so much fun, I just had to continue on in the same vein, so the Celtic Lizard pendant was born. \u00a0A little less than 2 inches tall, engraved and carved from naturally-shed elk antler, with a titanium backing and massive silver\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Carving"","img":{"alt_text":"Antler_Celtic_Lizard_Pendant_6aWeb","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Antler_Celtic_Lizard_Pendant_6aWeb.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2090,"url":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=2090","url_meta":{"origin":2333,"position":1},"title":"Knapped Steel Petroglyph Knife","date":"May 28, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Another of my signature \"Knapped Steel\" knives. \u00a0I had so much fun playing with the antler and potassium permanganate from you kagamibuta adventure, I decided to make a knife handle. Above is the knife I \"carved\" prior to heat treatment. \u00a0I use a scan like this to design (on paper)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Engraved Knife"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Mammoth_Stone_Knife_18.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3682,"url":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=3682","url_meta":{"origin":2333,"position":2},"title":"“Greenman in Autumn” Pendant Dagger, Part 2","date":"December 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I started the engraving by cutting all the major lines. Next I'll inlay gold wire into the Celtic beard... Inlaying gold wire, from top left clockwise - undercutting the line (blue arrows) - hammering in wire - more hammering - all wire in place Clockwise from upper left - scraping\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Carving"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Pendant_Dagger_121.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1208,"url":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=1208","url_meta":{"origin":2333,"position":3},"title":"Knapped Steel Neck Knife","date":"June 28, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Last August, I spent a week working at our local knap-in, where lots of stone tool knappers come and hobknob with each other. Lots of work, but lots of fun as well! While\u00a0at the knap-in, I saw a friend's artwork (see the lovely little stone neck knives above, with decorated\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Knapped Knife"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Knapped_Steel_Neck_Knife_42.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2965,"url":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=2965","url_meta":{"origin":2333,"position":4},"title":"Helheim Dagger in Knapped Steel – Part 7","date":"March 14, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I'm finishing up the engraving on the Hel side of the dagger. \u00a0Above, I've removed the background, using what I call a \"scribble\" texture for the cloth of her robe, and I've used a tiny four-sided point to stipple the non-cloth areas (see around her dead eye, and between\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Engraved Knife"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Helheim_Dagger_54.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2983,"url":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=2983","url_meta":{"origin":2333,"position":5},"title":"Helheim Dagger in Knapped Steel – Part 8","date":"March 18, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's the finished knife. \u00a0I still need to make a box or stand for it (probably box?). Above is Hel , and her dead eye (moose antler). And, of course, here's Odin. Thanks for looking!","rel":"","context":"In "Engraved Knife"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Helheim_Dagger_56.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2333"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2333"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3083,"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2333\/revisions\/3083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}