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A friend of mine is gonna give me a deer shinbone for me to make nuts out of. She found a skeleton out in the hill country, perfectly clean and dry, bleach white. She figured it's probably a couple years old already. Anybody make em from scratch?

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http://www.tinyhouseandland.com

I bought some fossilized bone from a dealer at the Tucson gem show, and was able to use it to make a uke nut and saddle in my first effort to use the material. Wear a mask when cutting. I used my band saw to rough shape the piece, then the bench sander to shape it. Once you cut your rough shape from the cortex of the bone, you shape it just like the bone you buy from LMI or StewMac. You can gently boil the bone before cutting it up to get rid of the marrow fats. I would add a little bleach to the water to sterilize, but it will whiten the bone a bit and some people want to retain natural bone color. Cut off a small bit and experiment with different cleaning techniques until you like the look of the bone, then cut it up and shape it.

Sorry, I didn't read your post with my full attention. It's already dry and bleached. You could try just shaping it as-is and see how solid it seems. Sometimes bone that is exposed to the elements is not very solid and wouldn't make a good nut or saddle. Compare the density with that of the kind of bone you buy...you can even weigh a nut-sized piece and compare with the weight of a purchased bone nut.... if it has a brittleness to it, I wouldn't use it. The fossilized bone I purchased had the same kind of density and weight of "fresh" processed bone.

It might not be the best piece. It seems to have a fracture through it. I may cut into it and see if it looks any different on the inside. I still like the idea though and want to work more with raw bone. I even had the thought today of making volume/tone knobs out of bone.

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http://www.tinyhouseandland.com

The Dog Bone section of your local Pet store is a great source for processed sections of Cow thighbone with thick sides perfect for nuts and saddles. PetSmart has them for $3-$6 in 3-12" sections. They're not as sexy as a Deer Shin Bone but they get the job done. You gotta wonder what killed the Deer and if you can catch it by handling/breathing the dust from the bone.

I'd follow the same process as using raw bone from the butcher - boil it with dish detergent for awhile anyway. Then cut it in blanks and soak them for a week with "white gas" - Coleman lamp fuel. That will leach out any remaining fats. The fat's probably long gone anyway, but better safe than sorry. You don't want the fat leaching out into the finish or the raw wood on the neck under the nut- can discolor the wood.

You'll want some pretty good dusk masks when you cut it (I use my bandsaw - works fine) Bone dust is very bad to breathe (and it stinks like crazy, anyway).

I have used "dog bones" also. I just boiled them in plain water for a few hours. Had no problem with fat or anything after that.
I would think a deer shin bone would be pretty small to get usable pieces from. I used cow thigh bones. But if you can get big enough pieces that are dense and sound, try it. Especially if it's your own instrument, nuts and bridges are easy enough to change.

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Chuck Kish

Thanks for all the feedback. I haven't cut into the bone yet but it is fairly small. I'd say there's a 50/50 chance of geting something usable out of it. I may go with the dog bone route, or maybe even take a bone from my next pot roast and re-boil it. There's often some nice large pieces in there. There's often cheap bone scraps you can get from butchers in grocery stores too.

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http://www.tinyhouseandland.com

I know a lot of guys do this, but I really can't see the point. A decent nut or saddle blank is around 5 or 6 bucks. It's already the approximate size, and it's ready to use. No bleaching, soaking in "white gas", sitting for a week, or anything like that. Sounds to me like a lot of work and time for not very much return on the investment. While you do all that, I can order a nut or saddle blank and sit back and relax. It'll get here in the same amount of time it takes to do all that, and I won't have to have lifted a finger.
But if you're into it, far from me to say don't do it. I'd rather spend that time doing something else, though.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

I bought a bone blank from a Canadian supplier ... Bezdez.

Just wondering if it is real bone or synthetic. What do the luthier shops sell as bone? Which animal might it have come from?

Jeff, most bone blanks, unless otherwise specified, are made from cow bone. I don't know Bezdez, but if this is a reputable supplier, I wouldn't worry about it.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.