Anyone into bone carving? I live in Norway and was thinking of maybe carving some simple jewelry and weapons with runes to offer for sale on various local norse reenactment groups on facebook. The dremel 3000 gold kit looks like it would pay for itself, now I'm looking at other tools. Any tips?
Bone carving is fucking stinky. Really fucking stinky.
>>946008
Seconded. Honestly I did it once and decided it just wasn't worth the smell.
>>946111
what about it?
>>946114
Does it smell?
>>946134
All skrimshaw smells. Actually, if you're dicking with it, especially if you're using power tools but even generally, you should be using some form of respiratory protection. Like everything that makes dust, it can lead to some serious and nasty lung disorders.
Buffalo horn smells really minty. It gives me a headache but I kinda love and hate the smell of it. I had a small chip on a flat piece, so I sanded it lightly so I don't have it rub on anything. I forgot how nauseating it was, somewhat like the inside of pingpong balls.
Sorry I can't really contribute to the thread, apart from sharing my small experience with bone/horn.
>>946145
This. Bone dust is really dangerous. One of those 3M dust masks should do the trick.
Not OP
>>946008
Can you describe the smell?
Also general question for anyone who is into this.
I'm getting a few deer skulls from my buddy's dad who hunts on the regular. I got a "practice" skull from him. He cleaned it down himself boiling and what not. He's getting a couple professionally cleaned with beetles and bleaching or something I guess. The guy who is finishing has had em for almost two years now. Can I expect a difference between the two on workability?
>>946397
I have heard this. Must stick in the lungs and not break down.
Personal experience so far:
Bone is damn tough. A healthy cow thighbone is tougher than aged hardwood.
It resists working by having structural lines that are very tough to cut across but which cracks can appear along.
It's all natural shapes, no straight lines or plane pieces. Mostly cone slices.
Grinding is a pain because it heats up immediately and doesn't transfer heat away like metals. It wears abrasives like granite so if you use a dremel you can count your products in $ of sandpaper loops per piece.
Wood tools wear down almost as fast as the bone does. You need rock tools and good luck finding intricate precise ones. Shit's expensive and doesn't last long either.
It's also disgusting. Your fingers will smell like soup for days.
Get a good thick leather glove for your non dominant hand. Also useful for rock chipping.
If you manage to make something out of bone, congratulations. With a bit of oil every other year it will last forever. Make it wet and it will decay away like a good natural biodegradable product.
I wouldn't cut my food with a bone knife. It's porous and doesn't seal up when wet like wood. Germs can live in there really well. You'd have to boil it out after every meal.
>>946455
>Can you describe the smell?
Burnt hair.
>>946455
>Can you describe the smell?
It smells like rot. Pure rot.
>>945967
For real, wear a good mask if you do this. Since the dust is calcium your lungs can't break it down once it gets in there and it will compromise your respiratory system.
>bone carving
Tried it once. Never again.
The smell of of finely ground bone is fuckign atrocious. Sorta like the smell you get when your dentist drills your teeth to open up and fix a cavity, but 10 times worse.
I suppose it wouldn't smell if power tools aren't used and everything is done by hand, slowly, but fuck that.
I filed a guitar nut from a blank made out of bone. It smelled bad, but it wasn't unbearable. However I was taking very little material off and it took a while to do it with the shitty file I have. I imagine it must reek if any power tools are used.
Also, the dude I bought the bone blanks from on ebay shipped it wrapped in the obituaries section of an old newspaper. Pretty metal.
>>946507
Oh, so it's like filing your nails?
>>948216
If your nails were half an inch thick, calcified, and contained a HUGE amount of blood vessels...
>>946008
THIS, I used a Dremel to carve out coyote bones and it made my shirt and work space smell pretty awful
>>945967
can you link some of those groups op, or direct me to the reenactment market in norway?
I am starting backsmirhing, knifesmithing and armorsmithing business in Trondheim, but norwegian larping and history loving society is yet unknown for me
>>948682
Interesting.
Can you estimate a rough cost outline for a flint striker, an Ulu, and a tomahawk. All rough work without decorations in high carbon steel? The striker could be iron.
>>948695
flint striker can be from iron, but the edge has to be from carbon steel in order to work. Somebasic striker can be made for 150-200 NOK.
I haventtried to make ulu yet, however, it is basicly a weird shaped knife. I estimate around 1000 NOK, but it really depend on how rough should it be, meaning, if the rest of the edge should be ground, polished, or left untouched afterhardening and tempering with just edge sharpened. And the handle can vary too, you can stick a piece of wood on it in an hour or play with it more.
Tomahawk is also pretty dependable on how it should look, but I would guess around 2000 kr,-
