Bear Bone Bag Knife

[BrownBear]

I'm a fan of small knives to fit in my shooting bag rather than hanging round my neck or larger knives on my belt. I use them for cutting patches, but a lot more, so I don't call them patch knives.

Hiking the hills a year back, I stumbled across the scattered bones of a young brown bear. Figuring they might be good for something I picked up a femur (thigh bone) and a forearm bone, maybe the ulna. After dragging them home and looking at them for a year, it occurred to me that the ulna might make a great grip for a small knife. Dunno any historic precedent for it, but it's kinda personal for me after over 40 years sharing the woods with the critters. After making the knife I'm gonna be hiking back to the spot and on the lookout for a big skeleton wherever I go. Overall length is just under 6", almost exactly the same as my open pocket knife I also use for cutting patches.


Wasn't ready for it on such a young bear, but I got a real nice surprise when I sawed the bone in half. The core is tiny and the walls are thick and virtually as hard as ivory. Makes me real anxious to collect bones from a biggun.


Ran a drill down into the core for a pilot, then set to work with needle files to enlarge it and fit the tang of a 2 3/4" blade I picked up from TOW. Took about an hour of futzing around, so not bad.


Decided to pour a pewter bolster. Easy job of pouring, but deciding on a final shape is harder. I'm not there yet, merely hacking it down far enough so I can use the knife for a while and get better acquainted. Views from both sides.



Turns out that wide flat grip is the best I've ever tried on a small knife. Grip is really secure, and being short I can drop my little finger off the butt to really lock it into my hand. Views in the hand.





Took about half an hour to cobble together a quick center seam sheath from a scrap of leather. No belt loop cuzz it's gonna live in my bag. Someday I'll get inspired by a more elaborate sheath, but for now I'm just looking for practical function.



This stuff is so much like ivory, that big femur is going to visit my bandsaw to become scales for more knife projects. Anyone spending time around black bears (We don't have them) might want to take a much closer look at the bones. I'm real curious how they compare. If they come close, it's likely to be one of the better bones/horns you've ever worked with.

 

[smo]

Very nice

 

[Artificer]

Nice little knife and sheath.

Now, every time your hands get sweaty, make sure you handle the handle before you wash your hands. You will have a hand polished patina on it in no time.

Gus

 

[BrownBear]

...hand polished patina....

I'm kinda going for the patch lube/dirt/blood patina, actually. :rotf:

The bones had been laying around at least a year, so were pretty weathered. This is kind of a "proof of concept" project. One of my principal hunting pards has been guiding bears here for 40 years, and he'll fetch me fresh bones or direct me to any of his nearby fresh kills to collect my own, if I want new-bone patina.

Actually not a bad thought really. He's been my source of bear fat and buffalo horns for some time, so what's one more chore for him anyway. Of course, it's likely to cost me more cups of coffee! He kinda owes me though, for the last buffalo I helped drag off the range. :grin:

 

[Bagman]

Looks like the bolster pour went well... :hatsoff:

 

[BrownBear]

Thanks!

But egads.... I started moving my Photobucket photos into folders, and it broke all the links....

Sorry. I'll repost them when I get a chance.

BTW- Dunno if it's true, but I heard the only way you can retrieve all your photos out of Photobucket is to move them into folders, then download the folders.... I guess I'll soon find out. :rotf:

 

[BrownBear]

Well, in the process of shuffling my Photobucket albums, I broke the original links. Here's a repost. Sorry for the disruption!

I'm a fan of small knives to fit in my shooting bag rather than hanging round my neck or larger knives on my belt. I use them for cutting patches, but a lot more, so I don't call them patch knives.

Hiking the hills a year back, I stumbled across the scattered bones of a young brown bear. Figuring they might be good for something I picked up a femur (thigh bone) and a forearm bone, maybe the ulna. After dragging them home and looking at them for a year, it occurred to me that the ulna might make a great grip for a small knife. Dunno any historic precedent for it, but it's kinda personal for me after over 40 years sharing the woods with the critters. After making the knife I'm gonna be hiking back to the spot and on the lookout for a big skeleton wherever I go. Overall length is just under 6", almost exactly the same as my open pocket knife I also use for cutting patches.


Wasn't ready for it on such a young bear, but I got a real nice surprise when I sawed the bone in half. The core is tiny and the walls are thick and virtually as hard as ivory. Makes me real anxious to collect bones from a biggun.


Ran a drill down into the core for a pilot, then set to work with needle files to enlarge it and fit the tang of a 2 3/4" blade I picked up from TOW. Took about an hour of futzing around, so not bad.






Turns out that wide flat grip is the best I've ever tried on a small knife. Grip is really secure, and being short I can drop my little finger off the butt to really lock it into my hand. Views in the hand.





Took about half an hour to cobble together a quick center seam sheath from a scrap of leather. No belt loop cuzz it's gonna live in my bag. Someday I'll get inspired by a more elaborate sheath, but for now I'm just looking for practical function.




This stuff is so much like ivory, that big femur is going to visit my bandsaw to become scales for more knife projects. Anyone spending time around black bears (We don't have them) might want to take a much closer look at the bones. I'm real curious how they compare. If they come close, it's likely to be one of the better bones/horns you've ever worked with.

 

[George]

Neat knife, BrownBear. Recycled bear is a cool resource.

i picked up a very similar knife from a prize blanket many years ago, handle of whitetail front knee bone, bolster of black (ebony?) wood. i agree with you that the small knives are very handy and comfortable to use for a wide variety of jobs.







Spence

 

[BrownBear]

How cool is that! Makes me wonder if you posted it before, because mine popped into my mind from somewhere. Looking at that beautiful amber bone, I'm thinking I have to increase my coffee debt with my guide buddy and get close to a fresh bone.

Thanks!

 

[Elnathan]

Nice! I do think that the very rustic handle doesn't quite go with the very crisp, factory-made knife stylistically, and (I think) would look better with a somewhat more rustic-looking blade. Something to think about when you do get a nice new bone...

I hate to be the one to bring this up, but are there any legal ramifications in using a cub bone? I always kind of wonder about using found parts from animals that aren't legally huntable. Or was this one bigger than I am thinking?

 

[BrownBear]

I hate to be the one to bring this up, but are there any legal ramifications in using a cub bone? I always kind of wonder about using found parts from animals that aren't legally huntable. Or was this one bigger than I am thinking?

It varies with the state, for sure. If skull or claws of a found brown bear I seem to recall those have to be cleared or registered or whatever with ADF&G. No restriction on picking up the bones, so long as it's for personal use and NOT for sale.

 

[Artificer]

Back in the early 80's, the Federal Wildlife Management folks did a large raid during one of the National Shoots at Friendship, IN.

They first went through "Sutler's Row" on NMLRA grounds and there were little to no problems there because India Sambar Stag antler was legal to import at that time.

However, on the "Swap Meet" area that was outside NMLRA property at Friendship, the Wildlife folks made quite a few arrests. Primarily that was on people selling feathers and claws from protected species, as it turned out and I had no sympathy for those folks.

However, there was also some trouble for people selling pieces of deer antler for knife handles. THAT got my attention as back then I was buying old antler mounts at swap meets and flea markets and cutting the antler up for knife handles for sale - not at Friendship, but at some gun shows here in Virginia. As it turned out, it was then legal to sell antler pieces, as long as, you had proof they were taken legally. The Wildlife folks asked to see the deer tags for the antler pieces for sale. Well of course I could never provide deer tags or proof that those old antler mounts were taken legally, so I stopped selling antler pieces.

There are different regulations from state to state on the use of "dropped" deer antlers as well. In many states you can pick them up and use them, but not sell them and in some states you can not give them or pieces of the antler away.

So it is best to find out the regulations in each state.

When I got my Eastern Count 6 and 10 point bucks, I sawed the antler off for use as knife handles, etc. and I deliberately saved my deer tags for them. Those pieces will never be for sale, but in case I want to give away some pieces, I can provide copies of the deer tags to the people I give the pieces to.

Gus