Another strap end is nearly complete. Here is the strap end in the small hand vise I made from a branch. I did most of the shaping on the bone before I finished the clamp but the incision work could not safely be completed without the clamp. The tool in my hand is the small skew chisel made for me. It works very well, but like most chisels is prone to slippage. Without the vise, the slippage made it dangerous to do the incision work on the strap-end. After the vise was completed it only took me a few hours to score each of the lines on the piece.
The one line that was difficult to get done was the outside border line. In the booklet "Working with Bone, Antler, and Horn" by David Constantine (a.k.a Halldor the Viking) available for free download in PDF format on the Bone, Antler, and Horn Working Facebook Group, the best tool for making smooth, evenly spaced edge lines is an edge scribing tool. Very similar to the skew chisel, the tool has a 90º bend in the steel and is set in the handle at the distance you want the borders. You then score the bone while keeping the edge of the bone pressed tightly against the handle. When I first read the booklet, I thought "Nah, I don't need that" but now I think it is a brilliant idea and will be making one as soon as I can get the steel commissioned.After I scored the lines I decided to colour them with charcoal dust and Tung Oil. As with the Red Oche and Tung Oil on my last strap end, the colouring worked well. It also showed me all the little scratches left in the bone when my chisel slipped. A quick reminder to do the polishing and scraping before you add the colourant to a piece of bone.
Last night I decided to wipe the excess colour off and drill the holes using the point of my knife and the small drill bit I had made for me. It took 3.5 hrs to drill both holes using these tools but they work well . Unfortunately, the oil hadn't quite dried and between the wiping and the handling while drilling some of the oil came out of the incisions.I am going to take advantage of this mistake and do my final scrape and polish before reapplying the colour.
All told from beginning to end this strap end will have taken me almost 12 hrs to complete, scattered over several days. That does not include the time spent working on the hand vise or adding a handle to the skew chisel. It does include the expected time of 1 hour to scrape and polish the strap-end and reapply the colour to the lines. If I have to go back and deepen the lines after the polishing, that will add another hour or two.
I've had a couple of people ask me for pictures of the pump drill I purchased from Daegrad Tools in the U.K so here you go. I still find it very hard to use. Mostly it seems to be a lack of Rhythm on my part, but anyone who has heard me sing or watched me dance could have told you that.
The shaft is made from a birch dowel, as is the crossbar. The cord is jute, I think, and the flywheel is a round of Horse Chestnut. I sealed the flywheel with varnish to prevent it from warping or cracking due to humidity fluctuations that we always get in the Summer time.
For the heck of it I have included a glimpse of my current bone working tool collection. The
tools that were made for me have had cherry handles added to them. They
are bulky because I am using them like palm tools found in wood carving.
The larger handles makes it easier for me to brace in the palm of my
hand. My final photos are of a small section of actual Red Deer Antler I acquired today. This was cut from a mature male by the farmer who raises them for meat. Unlike White Tail deer the Red Deer antler has a wider and flatter beam with shorter tines. The antler from Elk are more like the White Tail Deer, though the beam on the larger males can be wider than the White Tail's. I can see the advantage to using one over the other for making combs and the like but as for the material itself it is nearly identical. However, the cost of the Red Deer makes it a material saved for a special project.
