i have a load of points from the end of fallow and red deer antlers between 1 and 6 inches long, cant think of anything to make from them other than pottery stamps any interesting suggestions anyone?

---

 Attachment: 130.55 KB
a bit like these really. [ Download ]

Pipe tampers, pestles, boar spear lugs, cutlery furniture... Thousands of everyday uses. ;)

Cheers,
Matt

Some additional suggestions: Buttons, cutlery handles ( I know someone mentioned that already). tool handles ( awls, files, etc), toggles for shoulder bag flaps ( like a button but the string is longer), jewelry ( all kinds of jewelry items), conchos for saddlery or belts. Epoxy them into holes in a hefty tree branch and make a "cave man" club. Legs for a foot stool? Yeah, I'm reaching now but I have seen chairs and the like made from horns or antlers.

All good uses mentioned already, but my vote goes for grinding them down and boil them into antler-glue!
It's a killer to have period glue for scabbards, shields and other stuff.

Depending on size I would use some of these to make tips fro walking sticks or handles fro walking sticks although large sections of horn or horns cut so as to use more than just a point would be better for handles.

I used very large moose horn to make myself a few walking sticks handles or handle knobs/pommels.

Try your hand at archery and make longbow string-nocks!

OK, so its hide glue for all intents and purposes. The BIGGEST MISTAKE you can make with this kind of glue is to forget to refrigerate it! Don't ask me how I learned this! :D Unless your nose is dead you will only make this error once, believe me! This advice goes for rags that you use to clean up the squeeze out if they're wet, which they should be.

Happy gluing

Well Jean, eventually a skunk will go away! This stuff won't. It is an incredible material and you can do some amazing things with it. I enjoy the idea that I'm using an adhesive that is essentially the same as that used by the ancient Egyptians.
In the dry granular form you can store it for years with no difficulty whatsoever but when it has been activated and is in the semi liquid state it can rot just like the material it was made from with the same putrified smell. Refrigerating the glue when you're not using it is easy and prevents this but if you forget about the rags you used to clean up excess glue or the water you soaked the rags in you can be in for a very unpleasant aroma in your shop!

Bjorn,

Hide glue and gelatin are very closely related products. A reason I don't eat much Jello. Hide glue comes in many different formulations for different applications. Some woodworking supply companies will sell small bags of granulated hide glue, I'd recommend trying the manufactured stuff before you try making your own. The liquid hide glue you can sometimes find in hardware stores is the same product but it is slowed down and has a preservative in it so it won't rot and will work without heating. There is a supplier in the Maryland area that sells larger quantities. Actually the company is Bjorn Industries and the people who own it are Danish.

Yeah, I guess I'm one of those fancy furniture makers.