Antler ring

When we got married, my wife and I didn't want to get rings made of mined metals. So I tried a few different things like coastal sweet grass and dogbane (they lasted longer than you'd think but the knots were too bulky and didn't stand much abuse), as well as soap stone (they broke almost immediately). So finally I settled for using deer antler and, although it's not the easiest material to work with, the rings look great and are very durable (they can take quite a bit of abuse but somehow seem to have a limited lifetime of about 3 years, at which point they crack for no known reason).

When we visited my mom last summer she really liked the look of the rings so she asked me to make her one. I thought I'd take the opportunity to share the process with you all.

The most difficult aspects of the task are to find a section of the antler that is as round as possible and that is of the right diameter. The antler I have is from a young mule deer and about 3 inches of it is suitable to the task, which is probably good enough to make a dozen rings or so. I have relatively small hands so the circumference of my ring finger is about 2 inches and 1/4. The outside circumference of my ring is about 2 inches and 3/4. My mom's finger is smaller, about 2 inches and 1/8 in circumference and her ring is about 2 inches and 1/2 on the outside. So pick a section of the antler that will work for you. To measure the circumference of your finger and the antler you can use a piece of string wrapped around what you're measuring, then mark where the ends of the string meet and measure that length against a ruler.

 I use a hacksaw to cut out a blank, making sure to make a straight cut perpendicular to the antler. The width of the ring is about 1/8 of an inch. Again, make sure to make a straight cut parallel to the other edge you just cut. You end up with a disc, as shown below. If you look closely, you'll notice four different cross sections, like rings on a tree. The outside is greyish, followed by a brownish ring, then a solid white ring, and finally the center is filled with some porous white material (the yellow and red streaks are from the hacksaw blade). That center is relatively soft and easy to work with; the materials get harder as you move toward the outside edge.

I don't know if there's a perfect tool to work with antler. If so, I don't think I've found it. I've used two techniques to remove the inner porous stuff and they both work fine but there may be better ways out there.

Technique one is to use a metal point of some sort, like a knife you don't care about or the corner of a file even, and twist it back and forth into the porous material. You'll end up with a hole that you can make bigger and bigger, either by drilling other holes and/or by widening the ones you have with a file.

Technique two is to use the point of a knife to score all the way around the edge of the porous material, from both sides of the disc. Eventually, you'll be able to remove the center section in one piece. Make sure you don't really care about your knife and that your point is strong enough that it will not break or it could get ugly.

When that central stuff is removed completely you'll have to start filing the harder white material. It will produce a white powder with an interesting smell. I use needle files for that and they work pretty well. In that pack there's a flat one, a triangular one, a square one, and a round one. I mainly use the square one for removing the bulk of the material and the round one for finishing work. As the work progresses you should switch between filing and fitting the ring to your finger to make sure you don't over-file (as usual, it's easier to file more material away than it is to put it back once it's gone).

Stop filing just before the ring fits perfectly and file away the sharp corners of the ring, both the inside and the outside. The round file I have works really great for that, turning the sharp corners into a pretty smooth curve. Then see how the ring fits again. If it needs some adjustments go ahead and file a little more. My rings are generally just under 1/8 inch thick; I've had rings break if they were 1/16 inch thick.

If the ring is not quite round enough you can also file away the nose of the oval on the outside, but be careful to leave enough hard material there so that the ring doesn't break. A slightly oval ring will work and look just as good as a perfectly round one.

 When you first wear the ring it is possible that you experience some itching. My guess is that it's because the ring is dry and soaking up your body oils. The itching stops by itself after a couple of weeks. It may be possible to slightly oil the ring before wearing it, though I haven't tried this yet.

Some people like the raw look of the antler as shown below but it will slowly wear away into a more shiny, almost translucent substance as it absorbs your body oils. If you'd rather have a bright white ring from the get go you can use some fine grain sandpaper to rub the brown markings away.

 A final warning is that, if you work with dyes like black walnut or elderberry while you wear your ring, it may absorb some of the dye and thus be discolored unevenly. I wore my ring while working with elderberries and the sides of it turned into an unattractive dull brown that doesn't want to go away. I haven't tried dyeing a ring on purpose otherwise.

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