Cow bones?

[ishiwannabe]

Thought I read somewhere about using cow bones for handle scales. I found a mess of em over the last few days that I think are usable.
What do I need to do to use them? Stabilize them? Crazy glue?
What is the best way to cut them?

These look like they have been in the woods 20+ years, any tips on cleaning them up?

Thanks in advance.

[Doug Campbell]

They'll work great Jamie, stabilize with thin ca glue. It can be a little tough to find thick enough stuff but nice when you do. I cut them with my bandsaw and grind to shape.

[DC]

I saw something on the Discovery Channel How It's Made the other night on pocket knives and they were using cow shin bones. Not your handmade custom knives but still pretty interesting to see all of the machine automation for cutting,drilling and shaping etc. for all the knife parts and assembly.

[ishiwannabe]

Thanks guys. These are rather large bones...about a foot in length and four or five inched in diameter. Of course, the locals have been chewing on them a bit, but there appears to be quite a bit of material to work with.
I think the current farmer's father must have dumped the dead off around here or something...

Im going to collect what I can and see where that leads.

Doug, still looking for some rock too. All of it is freeze fractured so far but Im still looking....but I just might have a connection to some great flint from Europe....  

[Izzy]

My cousin made a really nice set of cow shin scales from pet shop cow bones.Looks a lot like ivory.

[Mark N]

Cows in a pet shop?

[ishiwannabe]

They sell em for dogs to chew on Mark...