I want to make ear spoons and combs out of an old moose antler. I know files is the modern way to do it, but what’s the primitive way? And if I use files, how do I make a little round hollow part in the ear spoon? What kind of files? Do you cut it with a hacksaw, or carve out grooves and try to break it along them? Also, how smooth/pourous is carved antler? Is it practical to use for wet messy things?
Thanks!
Tar
I believe one common primitive way to work antler is to rub it against even grained stone. You might want to get some of various roughnesses, rougher for the preliminary shaping and smoother for smoothing.
wildcarrotdances,
did you end up making the ear spoon? if so, did you use a certain design or just go by what seemed to work best?
the biggest thing i’m wondering about is: how well it works for removing the ear wax… my partner was raised with ear spoons rather than q-tips and he says he remembers them working well, but his ancestry (asian) leads him to have very dry ear wax (which, with a little light scraping, falls out of the ear really easily). but my ancestry is from norway mostly and i have wet earwax, which is common among european and african people. if you’re using it, are you getting stuff out of your ear or are you just using it to scratch your ear canal when you’ve got an itch?
thanks!
~nemoralis
I made it, I use it, it works great! I think it’ll work for any kind of ear wax. Its a lot like scooping peanut butter out of a jar with a butter knife, if the jar was your ear.