Beef Bone For Making Tools

[TexasLady]

6/17/11

I made a tool from a hollowed pork bone, the misplaced it before I could use it. I'm sure it's around here somewhere,... where I carefully put it.

Not being able to find that tool, I set out to make one that's 'even better' this time. A very kind group of people in the butcher shop of a local supermarket saved me a gorgeous, white, perfect 9" long bovine bone in their refridgerated room. Even though I was a day late in going for it, they still had it there waiting for me, all wrapped up in shrink wrap, sitting on a styrofoam plate. I was so very audacious as to ask the butcher for one more favor. I explained that I would be having to clean out the marrow, and that, I'd like for him to please cut the bone, diagonally, from end to end. In seconds he had made the most beautiful straight cut you can imagine, using that huge band cutter that they have. So, that gave me the potential for making two humongeous fantastic BONE tools for leatherworking. The butcher's co-worker asked what I'd 'do' with it, and to explain quickly, I pulled out my little double loop laced scissor-holder from my purse. They were favorably impressed. And it almost chokes me up to tell you that the butcher, and the store, did not charge me for the beautiful beef bone. (I'll try to repay them in the future, either in patronage to their meat counter or with a sample of my work, or both.)

So, now that the bones are cooked, with all meat removed, please give me your suggestions for what tools I can/should make. I'd only started out to make a burnisher, but somehow it seems that this windfall might have more potential. - Texas Lady

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

Boning tools are a given.

I would say anything that is used without a hammer; modeling tools, burnishers, etc.

[DJ1935]

Hi Texas Lady

I am always scavaging bones from our local butcher. Bone makes great tools, depending on the bone shape. You can make brillant burnishers and molding tools from ribs and the top end of shoulder blades make good scrapers.

Your only mistake was boiling the bone to get the meat off. This weakens the bone and causes it to splinter - not ideal for leather or your hands! You should bury the bone in the dirt, preferably near an ants nest, or leave it on a roof in the sun to bleach - you may have to tie the bone with a string to stop something "borrowing" it. I have a friend who has an entire horse skeleton on his roof waiting for the bone to bleach - must get some odd looks from passersby!

DJ

Edited June 18, 2011 by DJ1935

[Kevin]

You can make creasers out of smaller leg bones. Shoemaker's tools are referred to as Crispin's bones.

Kevin

[BigRiverLeather]

I have a friend who has an entire horse skeleton on his roof waiting for the bone to bleach - must get some odd looks from passersby!

DJ

HA! Sounds like something straight out of Mad Max! I'll bet that is quite a site.

[TexasLady]

6/18/11

My thanks to everyone on this Thread for your generous replies.

DJ1935,

I can't believe that I've already done something wrong with my beautiful beef bone! Okay, to be perfectly honest, I saw the lucious marrow and boiled the bone so that I could eat the marrow. I've also made two pots of quite delicious soup of the bone stock, using herbs (rosemary, cloves, thyme), hominy, and chicken hearts. I'll add some fresh vegetables the next time I heat it up. Still, if I'd realized that I was weakening the beef bone, I'd have buried it in my backyard. Since I mow my own grass, I can attest to the fact that my backyard ants are carnivours. In fact, if all of the rest of this forum would like to use my backyard for expressly this purpose, I have more than enough ants to 'go around'. When I read about your friend who's put a horse skeleton on his roof, I looked immediately over on your profile to see where you 'are'. My local town's ordinances tend to frown on putting horse skeletons on our roofs here. <chuckles> I wonder exactly what the citation on my door would 'say'.

Yes, we do have occassional wolves and cougars around here, and I doubt that a string, or even a rope, would be enough to secure a good bone from them. Maybe a chain? So, what about the real bone tools that Tandy sells? How do they disinfect the bone if not by boiling? Am I sounding like a tenderfoot by asking this?

If anyone would like to post photos of bone tools you've made, please 'be my guest'. In fact, help me out by posting something.

- Texas Lady

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

You may not have damaged it enough to worry about. We had some Boxers who worked over a couple of bones from the kitchen,and they held up as long as the dogs did. Beef bones are much stronger than pork bones which will splinter, that is why my brother the veterinarian suggests beef bones for dog chews.

My neighbor down the road used to bleach bones, and skulls on her roof.

Since you have the bones, make some tools, and try them out.

The ones Tandy sells may be chemically treated. I would think that once the meat, and marrow was removed that a good sun bleaching, or even a good scrubbing with soap,Clorox, or Lysol would do it if you are worried about cooties.

[WinterBear]

Mammalogists that prepare bone for teaching groups and lab specimens suggest never using bleach, or if you must use bleach, never soak bones in bleach. It weakens the bone and will cause it to crumble over time. Bleach can be used to wipe or to help degrease, but should be followed with a soak in clean water to get it out of the pores.

Better to use a strong peroxide solution which is pretty good for both whitening and getting rid of germs, and won't degrade the bone.

The university still has a pair of antelope skulls I prepped and cleaned with peroxide for use in the mammalogy labs there. The final projects of all of the students became part of the collection to replace the items that were deteriorating due to age and handling. The skulls were cleaned by putting them in water that was below boiling--hot, but not boiling-with a small amount of non-sudsing detergent and keeping them in there for several hours. I brushed as needed with a stiff scrub-brush, but mostly, anything attached fell off on its own. I've done similar prep work with bird legs (turkey mostly) for making cores and stems, and it works great for those fragiler bones too.

I've done some beef-bone work, and I personally like the mellowed look of unbleached bone. I've given away most of the tools I made (silly of me, I know), but I think I still have a small unbleached beef bone pendant around here somewhere. I'll scrounge it up and post a picture tomorrow. The material from the pendant came from a great source--pre-cleaned and sterile white dog bones from the pet store!

Just make sure you wear good safety equipment when you work your beef bone--bone dust is nasty and can really tear up your lungs and eyes. It also smells pretty funky, so best to do it outside so the family doesn't disown ya.

[TexasLady]

6/24/11

You were right! Parts of the edges of the bone, I have sadly dried out by the boiling. But there are still large areas that have plenty of grease in them. I slicked the edges of some small items a little while ago, and the bone is working fine,... quite luxurious actually, to be able to hang onto that huge beef bone with my whole hand, rather than having to clamp down on some small tool with my fingers. Anyone who's had a brush with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome will appreciate the wisdom of using a tool that's comfortable and ergonomic, rather than one that's small and causes the hand to cramp. Regarding your Boxer dogs and the kitchen bones,... I hope that they weren't trying to access the bone marrow with their tongues. My previous little wire haired terrier told me that there's nothing more frustrating than not being able to 'get at' the bone marrow.

I found that first tool, the pork bone. I'd stored it with the project I'd been working on,... which was a palm pusher. So, when I picked up the parts for the palm pusher, there was the pork bone with them. It looks tiny by comparison with the beef bone. Your neighbor who bleached the skulls on her roof was in the USA? - Vintage

You may not have damaged it enough to worry about. We had some Boxers who worked over a couple of bones from the kitchen,and they held up as long as the dogs did. Beef bones are much stronger than pork bones which will splinter, that is why my brother the veterinarian suggests beef bones for dog chews.

My neighbor down the road used to bleach bones, and skulls on her roof.

Since you have the bones, make some tools, and try them out.

The ones Tandy sells may be chemically treated. I would think that once the meat, and marrow was removed that a good sun bleaching, or even a good scrubbing with soap,Clorox, or Lysol would do it if you are worried about cooties.

Edited June 24, 2011 by TexasLady

[TexasLady]

6/24/11

Hi WinterBear,

How glad I am that I bought two big bottles of peroxide at my local drug store when it was on sale last year. They are 'food grade', and I'd intended to use them, diluted, to brush my teeth with. I'll use them next time in preparing my beef bones for toolmaking. Your description of the antelope skulls brings back to me my General Biology I class that I took in 2009. Baby pigs, but ours were in formaldehyde for dissection. The displays around the room had some giant frogs, mounted between plexiglass panes. No antelope skulls, though. I like the 'water that's below boiling' idea. Actually, I was boiling the bone using only a 'hot plate', so I had trouble getting that really big pot of water to boil. That may have been the salvation of those beef bones. <smiley face> What 'non-sudsing deterrgent' were you using? What about using Borax? I didn't know that the bone dust would be bad for my lungs and eyes. I haven't cut the bones that I've got now, but I might be wanting to cut some in the future.

Okay, I'm getting off the subject of 'bone tools' now, but when you mentioned turkey leg bones, that reminded me of something. At my local supermarket, they sell 'Smoked Turkey Legs'. They still need to be cooked, but they have been smoked. They have the skin on them, all smokey-looking. I remember reading that if (I think it was) buckskin has been smoked, it won't shrink. So, I stood there and looked at those packaged 'smoked' turkey legs for a long time, wanting to buy them, just so that I could experiment with the already-smoked skin. But, not having time to do the research on how to tan them or how to use the smoked skin, I didn't buy them. If you, or anybody, knows about this, I'm still curious.

You used the turkey leg bones for making 'cores and stems'. What's that?

Thanks for that peroxide idea. - TexasLady

Mammalogists that prepare bone for teaching groups and lab specimens suggest never using bleach, or if you must use bleach, never soak bones in bleach. It weakens the bone and will cause it to crumble over time. Bleach can be used to wipe or to help degrease, but should be followed with a soak in clean water to get it out of the pores.

Better to use a strong peroxide solution which is pretty good for both whitening and getting rid of germs, and won't degrade the bone.

The university still has a pair of antelope skulls I prepped and cleaned with peroxide for use in the mammalogy labs there. The final projects of all of the students became part of the collection to replace the items that were deteriorating due to age and handling. The skulls were cleaned by putting them in water that was below boiling--hot, but not boiling-with a small amount of non-sudsing detergent and keeping them in there for several hours. I brushed as needed with a stiff scrub-brush, but mostly, anything attached fell off on its own.I've done similar prep work with bird legs (turkey mostly) for making cores and stems, and it works great for those fragiler bones too.

I've done some beef-bone work, and I personally like the mellowed look of unbleached bone. I've given away most of the tools I made (silly of me, I know), but I think I still have a small unbleached beef bone pendant around here somewhere. I'll scrounge it up and post a picture tomorrow. The material from the pendant came from a great source--pre-cleaned and sterile white dog bones from the pet store!

Just make sure you wear good safety equipment when you work your beef bone--bone dust is nasty and can really tear up your lungs and eyes. It also smells pretty funky, so best to do it outside so the family doesn't disown ya.

Edited June 24, 2011 by TexasLady

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

6/24/11

You were right! Parts of the edges of the bone, I have sadly dried out by the boiling. But there are still large areas that have plenty of grease in them. I slicked the edges of some small items a little while ago, and the bone is working fine,... quite luxurious actually, to be able to hang onto that huge beef bone with my whole hand, rather than having to clamp down on some small tool with my fingers. Anyone who's had a brush with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome will appreciate the wisdom of using a tool that's comfortable and ergonomic, rather than one that's small and causes the hand to cramp. Regarding your Boxer dogs and the kitchen bones,... I hope that they weren't trying to access the bone marrow with their tongues. My previous little wire haired terrier told me that there's nothing more frustrating than not being able to 'get at' the bone marrow.

I found that first tool, the pork bone. I'd stored it with the project I'd been working on,... which was a palm pusher. So, when I picked up the parts for the palm pusher, there was the pork bone with them. It looks tiny by comparison with the beef bone. Your neighbor who bleached the skulls on her roof was in the USA? - Vintage

Yep she lives here in Nevada. The boxers didn't have a problem with the marrow with their long tongues.

[TexasLady]

6/25/11

I had to look up a photo of a creaser, Kevin. Thanks for that idea. Are creasers for making an ornamental line on the leather? - TexasLady

You can make creasers out of smaller leg bones. Shoemaker's tools are referred to as Crispin's bones.

Kevin

[WinterBear]

Hi TexasLady. I'm sorry to hear that the edges were dried out. You might be able to salvage that though as it picks up oils from your skin and from the leather as you work with it, and it may stabilize the bone.

You're welcome! You won't need a huge amount of peroxide, and depending on the percentage, you can dilute it quite a bit, or just daub it on full strength with a cottonball to clean things up a bit, then let the bone sit in the sun for a few hours with the peroxide on it, and rinse well. Sunlight will help hasten the whitening. You certainly won't need to immerse the bone in bottled peroxide for a long period of time, unless it is an absolutely manky nasty thing...which most people wouldn't pick up anyway when it looks that gross! :whistle:I think both skulls took less than two small bottles of peroxide.

If you want to clean bones, I can recommend the National Park Service's "Conserve-O-Gram" for basic instructions (NAtional Park Sevice Conserve-O-Gram), with the following caveats--I would really avoid the ammonia soak and some of their other instructions. Greases in the bone structure react with the ammonia, and smell really really bad--as in, your neighbors will think you have a carcass lying out somewhere. And heating ammonia as the document also mentions is also a hugely bad idea, very very toxic, very very flammable. You're neighbors might suspect you have a meth lab in your workshop if you burn it up by boiling ammonia. Don't use the dermestids or the toxic chemicals they also mention--those methods are best handled in a prep facility with a fire suppression system, a confined dermestid colony, somewhere to proerly dispose of hazardous materials, and a fume hood to vent the objectionable odors and the fumes. Instead, stick to the general cleaning methods with the warm water, the soaking, simmering in warm water, and using sodium perborate (this is the BORAX! hehehe) in the soak/simmer water. The sodium hydroxide that they also mention is found in many detergents, and is also known as caustic lye, but plain old Borax does what you need it to, so avoid the lye. The peroxide methods for whitening the bone are on pages 6 and 7. Lastly, most of the methods here are going to be overkill, as a soup bone won't have been from something lying in the sun for too long and will be pretty easy to clean and won't have any odor if all of the grease is out of the bone before it spoils. In fact, anything laying around in the forest is probably not going to be good for carving as it often has a high microbial level, and you'd likely need a permit anyway. I personally stick to butcher bones or the dog bones from the pet store for carving to avoid the whole issue.

Yes, bone dust is terrible. Inhaled dust from bone/ivory/antler isn't absorbed by your body. It can cause chronic lung damage, pneumoconiosis...essentially you can give yourself miner's lung, or just flat out make yourself sick from a particularly nasty infection, or from the dust lodging in your lungs and casing inflammation and cysts that build up around the particles. If you want to work bone, try stopping into your local hardware store and look at the NIOSH approved half-face respirators with replaceable cartridges. 3M makes one that is pretty comfortable and relatively inexpensive (the cost is much less than a doctor's visit), and you can get cartridges for different tasks. Most packaging will tell what cartridges to use for particulates, or you can ask someone who works with exotic woods or antler inlay for advice, so then you'd just have to get filters for the correct particle size.

I've never tanned hide, or bird skins, so couldn't tell you if you could tan smoked turkey skin leather. It sounds plausible though, but I'd never be able to pry the cat or the dog off of it if I tried to make something with that hide.

I used to work with a fellow that did reproduction smoking pipes (mountain man pipes mostly), and I would prepare the turkey and chicken bones for him to make pipe-stems with. Occasionally, he'd make whistles and such with them as well. He also made non-historically accurate things with bird bones, like scarf slides using sections of the bone to form the center/core of the slide, and then tying rawhide knots over the outside of the bone, or making a sort of scrimshaw pattern with ink.

[TexasLady]

6/29/11

Such good information, WinterBear! Thanks. I'm proud to have started a Thread that's attracted your 'bone cleaning' information. And the same appreciation goes to the others who have contributed here. I had to laugh, though, WB, at your "but I'd never be able to pry the cat or the dog off of it if I tried to make something with that hide" comment. It would 'go to their heads' if the cat and dog knew that they had so much influence over your choice of new projects. I've used Borax for about ten years for laundry, almost exclusively, because it isn't toxic like detergent. On making whistles, I've made two, well tuned, ocarinas from clay. However, they are still 'greenware',... haven't been baked yet. I hope they will still sound good after I fire them. I'm an art major in college, so maybe I can impose on the clay teacher to fire them for me, even though I'm not in a clay class. I'm also hoping to be able to incorporate my new-found leather skills into my sculpture class, etc. Some leather straps, laced through handles of pots, for example, will give my work a lot of originality. You'll all be seeing more of me when I need help. - TexasLady

[WinterBear]

6/29/11

Such good information, WinterBear! Thanks. I'm proud to have started a Thread that's attracted your 'bone cleaning' information. And the same appreciation goes to the others who have contributed here. I had to laugh, though, WB, at your "but I'd never be able to pry the cat or the dog off of it if I tried to make something with that hide" comment. It would 'go to their heads' if the cat and dog knew that they had so much influence over your choice of new projects. I've used Borax for about ten years for laundry, almost exclusively, because it isn't toxic like detergent. On making whistles, I've made two, well tuned, ocarinas from clay. However, they are still 'greenware',... haven't been baked yet. I hope they will still sound good after I fire them. I'm an art major in college, so maybe I can impose on the clay teacher to fire them for me, even though I'm not in a clay class. I'm also hoping to be able to incorporate my new-found leather skills into my sculpture class, etc. Some leather straps, laced through handles of pots, for example, will give my work a lot of originality. You'll all be seeing more of me when I need help. - TexasLady

Well, the cat is 16, I think he's entitled to his crotchets and occasional lapses of judgement, and the hairball has a serious weakness for all things poultry. He'd nibble on it at the least. The dog, well, Mom's dog is something of a blockhead. He's a rescue who was abused and starved by his former owner. He can't help himself, he can't not eat something. If it is food, or just smells like food, or if he suspects it might be food, he eats it.

If you can't convince your teacher, a lot of small potters (those who do white-ware painting classes and have a small business run out of a small storefront) will often fire for a small fee. I've had a few odds and ends fired over the years, and the cost was minimal.

[TexasLady]

6/30/11

Thanks, WinterBear, for the idea of getting a small business to fire my ocarinas. I'll keep my eyes open. Also, I laughed out loud by the time I got to the part where you said, "... or if he suspects it might be food,...". I'm glad you've given the dog a happy 'rest of his life',... which will last for a good while, if the cat's lifespan is any indication. Might I ask the origin of your name? - TexasLady

[WinterBear]

Where I live now does not accept cats, so the cat has been living with my parents. The dog is Mom's. I don't have a yard here, and I don't think it is fair to expect a dog to be cooped up and bored all day while I am work, so I am currently dogless as well.

My name is from my graduate work, a joint study on black bears, and the first live bear I got to see and touch was a denned female.

[TexasLady]

7/3/11

Congradulations on making it as far as 'graduate work', and on choosing a field that's close to nature. - TexasLady

Where I live now does not accept cats, so the cat has been living with my parents. The dog is Mom's. I don't have a yard here, and I don't think it is fair to expect a dog to be cooped up and bored all day while I am work, so I am currently dogless as well.

My name is from my graduate work, a joint study on black bears, and the first live bear I got to see and touch was a denned female.

[WinterBear]

7/3/11

Congradulations on making it as far as 'graduate work', and on choosing a field that's close to nature. - TexasLady

Oh, I got the masters degree, but couldn't find a job. So it goes. I worked in bakeries for several years before finding a job as a technical editor for a company that does biometrics/biostatistics analyses.

[TexasLady]

7/4/11

That's good that you could get into a field that 'pays'. I'm working on a BA in Art, knowing full well how slim the pickin's will be for getting a job. 'Numbers' are difficult for me, and most jobs that 'pay' aren't of the artsy-craftsy sort,... unless the person is entrepreneurial, and I'm not. But, you've kept your love for 'nature' alive, while paying the bills with a 'real job'? - TexasLady

Oh, I got the masters degree, but couldn't find a job. So it goes. I worked in bakeries for several years before finding a job as a technical editor for a company that does biometrics/biostatistics analyses.

[WinterBear]

Math is not my strong suit, so I struggled with my degree. All in all, from the BS to the MS, I took 1 semester of trig, 2 of chemistry, 2 of organic chemistry, 2 of physics, 2 of calculus, 2 of statistics, plus some of the biology coursework was heavily math-based, so I also had things like theoretical ecology and fractal theory (many biological systems can be modeled with stochastic equations and fractal iterations).

As for the "real job" most of what I do only peripherally touches on the degree. Which is why I work with Boy Scouts and Venturers (co-ed Boy Scouts age 14-21). I call it my "second job"--I have no kids, so I borrow them. They're the ones that get me out and about, out camping, teaching what I know, and just fooling around in the great outdoors. One bonus is that I get to give dirty tired kids and their laundry back to their parents.

One reason I joined this forum is so I can get ideas and tips so I can be a better merit badge counselor and learn some new things with leather. I am a counselor in whole or in part for the "nature" merit badges: Nature, Mammals, Insects, Birds, Amphibians and Reptiles, Fish and Wildlife Management, Plant Science, Environmental Science, and so on. Also, photography, radio, leatherwork (with a fellow adult leader), and portions of eight or nine other rank advancement requirements or merit badges.

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

Sounds a bit like me. No kids, and I was a Scoutmaster for 11 years after I got my Eagle. 23 years total with Troop 252.

I also taught leather working, wood carving, and basketry merit badges at summer camp.

I think if I get involved with Scouts again it will be as a merit badge counselor. Been pretty busy though since I moved to the desert.

[WinterBear]

They say "It's just 1 hour a week!" And those of us who have done it say--"yeah, sure, so which hour of the week do I get to keep for myself?"

In all seriousness, I have yet to see a strong, long lasting Troop to ever turn down a volunteer, especially someone with a Scout background. You could always be an alumnus who pops in whenever time allows. If you can only come once a quarter or twice a year to teach a special merit badge class, most Troops won't say no either!

[TexasLady]

7/5/11

I always love to hear the stories of people who share their knowledge with others to help people. I'm at school right now and can't chat more. - TexasLady

[ButterflyDancer]

I'd just like to add my thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread.

Last week, I found a discarded deer pelt, dragged by coyotes.

My new buckskin book instructed that a scraper could be made from a deer leg bone, and, now, today, the darn legbone got dragged out from somewhere. One bone is chewed open with marrow exposed, deep inside. The second bone is not broken open. I guess I should hacksaw it open to remove the marrow before I form a sharp edge?

This thread is exquisitely helpful and inspiring.