Shopsmith Forums

Thanks for keeping us posted on the antler pens. I'm anxious to try one now!

Well, I finally got around to turning a pen from the antlers someone gave me last hunting season.

Here is a summary of my experience:
- The hardest part is finding enough straight pieces and getting the holes in the correct place. I blew out quite a few pieces before I realized I need a fairly thick straight piece.
- Once on the lathe, I had curved pieces that had to be turned in cylinders. That meant I was not only turning rough antlers, but was also "turning air".
- The stuff is really hard. I wasn't getting very far very fast with my roughing gouge so I switched to a skew. The skew cut much better, but I have no idea why.
- Once trued, the rest of the process was fairly routine. I didn't have enough extra material to turn any beads or anything fancy, so I didn't.
- The stuff actually sands great. I took it down to 600 grit, but if I'd had something finer, I would have kept going.
- I finished it with Behlen Woodturning finish and it did a terrific job.
- The final result is worth the effort. The part of the antler that attaching to the skull turned out pearly white. The rest has shades of brown mixed in. The variations make a very attactive pen.

Wear a dust mask! The stuff stinks!

so glad you hammered them out ...what about a couple of pictures of the final pens???

Sorry it took me so long to put up pictures, but I was out of town w/o the pens.

You will notice a brown "spot" on the bottom pen. That's actually the outside of the antler.

muncyjohn wrote:Well Dick don't look for any finished deer horn pens from me, I just got them down and after cutting 2 sized pen blanks with the BS the odor got to me, spent the last hour with Fabriese and using the dust collector to vacumm everything, even took the cover off the BS attempting to get the smell out, nope horn turning is not for me!

Oooooh, yeah! There's no stench quite like that of antlers being turned. Except, maybe, bonafide hide glue that you boil yourself. Ew.