What's new
What's new

machining deer bone?

rivett608

Diamond
Joined
Oct 25, 2002
Location
Kansas City, Mo.
My niegbor brought over some deer bone and asked for some parts to be milled out of it......I put in on the mill and it cut ok....but the finish wasn't so good and it seems to want to wrap a little from the heat?....so what speed..etc works best? useing a 5/8" HSS end mill, not the sharpest one in my box and running pretty fast....works great for ivory but this is bone...and it really stinks as anyone who has done this knows. Thanks
 
Sometimes my take on a post is all wrong!
confused.gif

My niegbor brought over some deer bone (
enough for 3 or 4 complete animals :)
) and asked for some parts to be milled (sorted) out of it...... Dead or alive?
I put in on the mill and it cut ok....Now on a lathe the proper fixture would be the Buck Chuck, of coarse depending on sex. Once you cut the throat, I never put um on a mill to do that but then probably rope it down each side of the saddle.
but the finish wasn't so good and it seems to want to wrap a little from the heat?....What do you mean the finish wasn't so good - it was a slow death or you can't stand the sight of blood? I like a good freezer paper for wraping and no heat. Or do you mean "wrap" as in wrap music?
so what speed..etc works best? Work fast enough to finish the job before the LAW shows up.
useing a 5/8" HSS end mill - What fer, all bamby burgers, no steaks?
, not the sharpest one in my box Now I've known a few like that i.e., They weren't the sharpest one in the box, you're refering to your neighbor here, right?
and running pretty fast.... Tell us about the hunt/get-a-way later!
works great for ivory Oooops! Ivory (gulp) , deer don't have ivory, you musta got yourself an elephant instead.
but this is bone...and it really stinks as anyone who has done this knows. How long ago was it that your neighbor brought it over, it must a been dead already if it stinketh.
Thanks
I'm not sure about the speed but you'll likely experience chatter til he stops kicking.
 
Most of the people that I know of who wittle bone (Taxidery) use very high rpm machines like fordom die grinders and such. I do not know if they require any additional polishing or not afterward. I will ask around and see If I can find out more.

Charles
 
Bone, horn, and antler (specialized bone) are very heat sensitive because of the moisture they contain - even "dry" bone etc. In a sense they're like wood having a moisture content reflecting their environment's usual humidity.

For that reason you chould machine them at relatively slow speeds using light cuts and relatively heavy feed rates. Thus you reduce heat input and distortion from local drying.

Also bone and antler are abrasive because they're comprised of calcium corbonate and calcium phosphate plates in a horn-like matrix equivalent to a space age composite material. HSS dulls readily in this stuff so when you take a cut, don't dally.

A water mist might be helpful too.

[This message has been edited by Forrest Addy (edited 08-05-2003).]
 
Everything Forrest said, and!

Make a few knife handles here, out of bone and various antler. Slow is better, water might help with overheating but I would avoid as it would create problems with trying to finish later, or warpage during drying, or any sealer (like wood, very dry is best)(some treat antler and bone with various plastics to avoid any warpage/shrinking). I use mostly abrasive belts for shaping the material over machining. Even at slow speeds, the belts clog and need frequent cleaning.

Now you know why your dentist charges so much! When I work the stuff, dogs cruise my yard looking for something good!
 
I have made knife handles from bone. Bone needs to be very cured (dry thorugh) to cut and work without frizzing.
Cutting it at high speeds will butn it and it will stink. Low speeds and it will chip. use medium speeds. For some reason high speed burs work fine in high speed tool for carving. Probably becacuse the contact of the carving tool is not constant.
It also needs to be very cured to polish. Be very careful of the polishing compounds as the bone is porus and will absorb the color of the compound. I have used wet or dry papers successfully and finished off with rottenstone (White finest pumice) as you would in furniature.
 
I did a few Google searches and found an article which mentioned a possible link between the inhalation of bone meal dust and Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease, a fatal brain deterioration disease.

Roger
 
Thanks guys for your help with the bone, in the future I'll use carbide and go slower. what I was making was a name plate for the nieghbors sons first deer. Just milled it flat (about .150") and engraved it on the pantogragh (deckel model #GO) and polished it by hand....looked great. OX, I've done a bunch of work in ivory, mostly lathe stuff...threading, fine turning (some parts less than .010 thick)..Ivory is one of the nicest materials to work with, turns and cuts wonderfully....it is almost easy to get a high gloss finish on your cut...try it sometime but use old tusks to save the elephants....I also have interests in ornamental turning.....
 
Bone dust is a carcingen......it will cause lung cancer if inhaled. A friend of mine who turns lace bobbins is accutely aware of this and takes great precautions when machining bone, and also some hard woods are extremely dangerous. I,m not kidding on this one.......
 
Ah! Carcinogen. I wonder why it doesn't give cancer to the living animals who pack the bones around?

BSE (Bovine spongiform encephalitis) is another matter if the causitive prions are present. Cooking does not denature BSE prions so anyone eating infected meat is in grave danger of infection by a horrible and incurable disease.

If the prions are absent the animal's flesh is safe to eat. I'd think it follows that the bone or antler from a clean animal is safe to work without special precautions beyond the usual dust protection.

I dunno. Any experts in cross-species infection around?

[This message has been edited by Forrest Addy (edited 08-07-2003).]
 
Forrest , the carcinogen part is probably the same as with glass-wool and that other isolating stuff (`Asbest` in dutch) :

The small particles you breathe in get `woven in` by protecting tissue in your lungs.
This protecting tissue , in some cases that is, starts growing and growing.
Eventually some of these cells can start mutating on their own , like any form of cancer starts.
Not quite sure about that last part , but that`s what I found out today.
 
Rivett608: Just an observation on working animal bone. I have found an advantage in boiling(just above simmer)cow bone then leaving it to dry for several days before working it. Just for what it's worth.
EAH
 








 
Back
Top