Need a little advice on power sanders and antlers please

Basically i need to sand whole Red Deer antler pretty much smooth... which i have done before on smaller sections. There would be some areas that still have a little exterior colour and texture still showing due to not wanting to over-do it and go through to the pith.

If i do it with sandpaper by hand, i will spend the rest of the next few months sanding, and cramp my lovely hands up something rotten.

I fear that rasping, filing and sanding may take too long to remove the rasp marks, even going through the grits correctly. I want a very smooth finish, and having done the same on some very dense hardwoods, i'd rather not have to spend unnecessary time removing scratches... plus i'll have to secure the antler in different positions which will waste a fair bit of time in the long run. I will experiment with this a little though.

I'll have to look into drill attachments too, could be a good addition at the very least and i can buff with it too

Thank you all

a reply to: skalla

A bit off the wall but could you use a cutting compound and a polishing wheel?

A bench mounted wheel like the ones you use to polish metal would get into most of the tight bits and the compound might sand and polish at the same time.

I am unsure as to how the antler bieng porus would affect it but a thought none the less.

a reply to: skalla
Dremels have attachments for pretty much any job. Sanding, filing, cutting, drilling, polishing, etc. You'll find some surprising uses im sure! You can use one to sand/file, then to polish, then to buff.

I agree with nonspecific that a buffing wheel would be good, dremels have them but a dedicated larger one might be ideal. A grinding wheel (one of those old timey foot pedal ones) would probably be right up your alley, and would make quick work of smoothing it out!

a reply to: Ridhya

If you like to do things on the cheap and are a bit handy then you could make one.

Get a couple of old pairs of jeans and cut a load of circles out of them and sew the circles together leaving about 1/4 inch loose at the edge every 1 inch in concientric circles 4 circles of cloth at a time.

Then then take some largish washers and sew everything together with the washers inbetween to give you a polishing wheel.

Mount a drill to the edge of your work bench and attach the wheel with a coach bolt and a couple of locking nuts.

If you want to go really cheap then you can make cutting compund from cheap toothpaste and bicarbonate of soda, it works on cars so I imagine it would work on antler.

I would experiment with a media/bead blaster for odd shapes. It would strip the surface in 5 min.
Keeping consistent distance and air pressure. Different media has more or less "abrasive-ness" similar to sandpapers varying grits.

I'd try an oscillating multi tool. Going to last longer than a Dremel I believe, and they have a ton of sanding attachments. Thinking an orbital sander isn't going to work quite right and other palm sanders are going to be a PITA because they really like to make things flat.

Thinking having that variable speed is going to be nice too. Not to mention you can use the thing for a ton of other applications.

My understanding is that you can attach a sanding pad that essentially works like a more powerful detail sander, so you can take off more material at a time, but still be very accurate and maintain the correct shape.

I Googled around a little bit and didn't find much of anything, other than I guess those antlers smell horrible and you should really be wearing a respirator because apparently there's something nasty in them. That's what I read, didn't take the time to fact check. You've done this before so you probably already know that.



Annnnnd now I'm buying one. I have a certain fondness for DeWalt too so probably either that model or the cordless.

I've been eyeing one of these for awhile now anyway.

Hope that helps a little, and good luck! Let us know what you decide on and if it works!

a reply to: Psynic

Okay dude. I only know of these from commercials but the did show some guy using it to sand the pickets of a staircase soooo. I'm no power tool expert but I figure you can turn the Dremel off if it starts to overheat and you certainly can change the sandpaper on the head.
No one said he needs to complete the job in one sitting.

originally posted by: AutumnWitch657
a reply to: Psynic

Okay dude. I only know of these from commercials but the did show some guy using it to sand the pickets of a staircase soooo. I'm no power tool expert but I figure you can turn the Dremel off if it starts to overheat and you certainly can change the sandpaper on the head.
No one said he needs to complete the job in one sitting.

So Dudette, you're "not an expert" and you only know of Dremels from "commercials" but your going to argue in defense of your lame suggestion to use a tiny little tool for a HUGE job?

Try pricing a package of Dremel sanding disks and then estimate how many you'd need and how much time you'd spend with your little dremel wrench changing them out.

They are a light duty tool, no matter what you "saw on TV".

originally posted by: Psynic

originally posted by: AutumnWitch657
a reply to: Psynic

Okay dude. I only know of these from commercials but the did show some guy using it to sand the pickets of a staircase soooo. I'm no power tool expert but I figure you can turn the Dremel off if it starts to overheat and you certainly can change the sandpaper on the head.
No one said he needs to complete the job in one sitting.

So Dudette, you're "not an expert" and you only know of Dremels from "commercials" but your going to argue in defense of your lame suggestion to use a tiny little tool for a HUGE job?
Try pricing a package of Dremel sanding disks and then estimate how many you'd need and how much time you'd spend with your little dremel wrench changing them out.

They are a light duty tool, no matter what you "saw on TV".

After using dremels in the past I will have to agree, the surface area on the sanding drums is like a postage stamp and the rpm of a dremel burns them out in no time.

There are plenty of good uses for a dremel but in my opinion this is not one of them

a reply to: Mandroid7

Novel idea... i've used sand blasting on etched tumblers before but i doubt i would fit an antler in the type of machine i used.. plus cost would be an issue i reckon as i'd have to rent, but ta for ze input

a reply to: Domo1

Ok, now that may be why i asked that question here... never heard of one before and i'm looking into it much deeper. Good heads up, much appreciated

a reply to: Ridhya

Ta for the input! I'm looking at dremels with the flexible engraver type thingy as an addition to the mini workshop