How to clean and bleach bone?

[Crispvs]

Thanks for the compliment.

You can tell fairly easily if the bone is from a foreleg or a hind leg by looking at the upper nock. If you look at the photograph I posted above, you will see that both of the hind leg nocks have a roughly 'T' shaped impression in them and a more or less straight edge, while the foreleg nocks have an indentation in the longer side.

When you go the cut off the nocks, be careful of where you cut. In order to make use of the thickest good quality bone possible at each end of the grip, you need to cut the upper nock off a couple of millimetres below the little blood vessel hole in the top side of the bone. Measure about nine centimetres from this point and then cut off the lower (divided) nock. Make sure you make both of these cuts as straight as you can. Actual grips vary in length between about seven and a half centimetres (3 inches) and about nine centimetres (3 5/8 inches) in length. By cutting a section nine centimetres long you will be able to remove any bone which is too thin or too porous (it is always more porous towards the nock ends, particularly the lower nock) without compromising the length. Most surviving grips seem to be about the eight centimetre (3 1/4 inch) length. You will find that the internal aperture is better at the upper nock end than the lower nock end for the fitting of the sword tang and so you are more likely to find yourself cutting bone away from the lower end than the upper end. You may need to widen the internal aperture slightly in the middle of the bone, as it can become very narrow at that point.

If your bone does turn out to be too big by the way, don't worry too much - there will be plenty of other projects you can make use of it in.


All the best with the project. I am happy to help if you need anything further.

Crispvs