"Antler Crafts of OR" 1911 stag grips?

[MatthewVanitas]

Greetings. While browsing eBay for 1911 grips, I noticed that some man called "oldmuddy" is selling "shed antler" grips on eBay. He calls his shop "Antler Crafts of Oregon".

The prices seem to run around $40-60 (even with "Buy it now" option), which is _way_ cheaper than Indian Sambar Stag runs these days. Can I assume that he's making his grips out of some kind of US deer antlers? Do American deer have big enough antlers to make grips from?

I know Eagle makes elk grips, but the fact that I've never seen anyone making American "shed antler" grips leads me to wonder: is that an inferior antler material? If they're such great grips, why do we bring stag antlers all the way over from India?

If anyone has ever ordered these grips, I'd be curious to hear about it. I currently have a nice set of bone grips (made by Spresser Knife Works), which ran me $50. I'll be tempted to swap out if I can get decent deer antler grips for a similar price. Man, I've been meaning to post pics of my bone grips for about two years now. Dang muj, making a man work away from home...

Thanks for any tips.

 

[Penman]

IIRC, Sambar stag is a nice material and was popular with knifemakers, because it is solid through to the center, with just a channel running through the middle. Regular deer and elk antlers should be fine for 1911 grips, since the grips are rather thin and shouldn't contain the porous part of the antler. He's probably using elk, just for the size needed.

 

[eddailey]

This Auction is for one set of Colt 45 1911 Shed Stag Elk antler Grips.

The above is from the "Description" of one of his ebay sales. Nice looking grips.

Ed

 

[nemesis]

I know Eagle makes elk grips, but the fact that I've never seen anyone making American "shed antler" grips leads me to wonder: is that an inferior antler material?

Elk is big critters what got antlers. Them antlers drop off naturally every year when the elk "shed their antlers". Shed antlers, the ones that done dropped off, can be found throughout elk habitat.

I'd take a wild guess and say that the gentleman is making gun grips from antlers that have been naturally discarded by still living animals.