This may be a stupid auestion but I am going to ask anyway.

I shot a little buck at the end of this season and decided to do a Euro mount. Instead of boiling the skull, waiting on wild insects or natural decomposition to remove the flesh, I bought some dermestid beetles to experiment with. So besides the skull, I kept a few of the leg bones and both shoulder blades to give the beetles something to practice on before moving on to the skull.

Now that I have a handful of femurs, shoulder blades, etc...I have been wondering what I can do with them. Of course knife handles came to mind.

Is there anything special that needs to be done with the leg bones besides maybe drying for a period of time? Anyone here ever worked with it?

Curious if it is something worth pursuing or should I just give these to the dogs to gnaw on?

Thanks

Too small, thin. I've used bleached cow bones before and they've turned out ok.

The knife in this pic has a handle of leg bone from the deer I shot in same place 11 years previous.
The bones can crack if left lay around. I boiled mine a little and removed the marrow before letting dry and shrink down.
The whole center is full of 2 part epoxy and the end cap is screwed on.
Good luck.
Tim

Nice deer and pictures.

Hey Tim, how far in there were you? I spent a good bit of time in and around the Huntsman Ridge trail (past the cutoff for Marble), and the east creek trail (Redstone)

This was in the Maroon Bells W.A. just down from Capitol Peak Lake.
The deer that furnished the leg bone was shot the day before the 9/11 strike and was bigger than his grandson in the pic from 2012.

I can't imagine a deer being shot and surviving 11 years, only to be shot by the same guy again.

The one who furnished the leg bone was killed the day before the 9/11 strike and the grandson was in 2012. Eleven years apart just as noted above.
Leg bone deer 2001, leg bone knife handle deer 2012.

Not real tough to figure, or at least I thought not.
Tim

Was the Glib or Flippant?????

"The knife in this pic has a handle of leg bone from the deer I shot in same place 11 years previous"

To answer the OP more clearly.
Leg bones work just fine. You should boil them, clean them out and let them dry. I would suggest a full length stick tang with a butt cap that is fastened to the tang and the bone filled with 2 part epoxy.
That is the method I used on the knife in the pics I posted above with a 11 year old leg bone for the handle.
Go for it.
Tim