Belt Advice on Construction

[Crispvs]

Sam,

Just to sound a note of caution, make sure you look carefully at the 'shin' bone pile. The term 'shin bone' is often applied to what is otherwise known as the shank bone, which is the large bone which comes between the femur and the metatarsal. The shank bone (especially the rear shank bone) is by far the most useful bone for general bone working, as it can be cut into three large, thick and fairly flat pieces, but it is far too big in section to be able to be used for a grip.

The metatarsal canon bone you want for a grip should be an inch to an inch and a quarter thick at its mid-point and you should see an indentation running along the length of both the upper and lower sides. If it is complete (sometimes the nocks will have been cut off) the lower end will divide into two separate 'knuckles' each or which will have a ridge running around its centre. The opposite end should look like the lower left nock in the picture below. Note the 'T' shaped indentation. All four of the nocks in this photograph are from canon bones. The two on the right are from metacarpal bones and the two on the left are from metatarsal bones. As you can see, the nocks of the metatarsal look different to those of the metacarpal. Of the two metatarsal nocks in the picture the upper one is from an adult's bone (in fact the one I used for the guard of my sword handle) and the lower on is a calf's (and is the one from the bone I used for my grip).



The overall bone should look like this:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ws5DCOjgiaI/TY...000590.JPG

Crispvs