First Bottle Stopper

[Ruffnek]

I bought four stopper kits from PSI a while back, thinking I would turn some for gifts at work. Well, Doug's Elk stopper finally motivated me and I turned one out of Whitetail Antler tonight. The base is Ebony and Bois d' Arc just because I like the contrast.

[Joe Lyddon]

Cody,

That looks pretty darn good... for your FIRST one!

Got any Long Horns to play with?

Got any Pine Cones?
( & lots of CA)

[boodrow]

Cody that be lookin good !!!!!!!!!
Boodrow

[sdb777]

The base is Ebony and Bois d' Arc just because I like the contrast.

Me too!!!


Bois d' Arc.......isn't in normally a red-ish color? Or is that the way the flash made it 'look'?


The antler base makes a really cool looking end, with plenty of gripping area to pull it from the top of a bottle.



Scott (first one = A++) B

[Ruffnek]

Thanks for the comments, guys.

Scott, that's the natural color of Bois d' Arc. It is bright yellow when first cut and turns golden brown after exposure to sunlight.

[sachbvn]

Cody - that is a fine looking first stopper! The antler is really nice, but that ebony/bois d'arc is really sharp!


Zac

[Ruffnek]

Thanks, Zac. I thought the base looked a little Pittsburgh Steelerish or maybe Iowa Hawkeyeish. ;D

[maverick31]

I agree with the others cody, very nice. I really like the ebony/bodark combo. Really sets it off

[Doug B]

Cody, I have to admit that I was really tired when I look at this the first time and it did not sink in to me...you oriented the antler opposite of what I normally would.

Just before I fell asleep, that hit me and the reason why it finally made sense was that you did not have a cap piece on the top of the stopper - that would normally leave the pith showing. I did not think you would leave the pith showing and that means that the base of the antler can be turned as a solid top.

That is something that just never occurred to me, but now I am going to have to try that! Thanks for posting. That is really unique looking, and I really like the Ebony and Bois d' Arc accents.

[Ruffnek]

Doug, that piece of antler is right off the deer skull. What is now the top of the stopper was an irregular shaped piece of skull bone with a large area of antler pith in the middle.

I turned it down about 1/2" and found solid bone. The pic doesn't show it but the top is a smooth dome. No pith showing at all.

[Doug B]

Thanks for the further explanation Cody. I have already selected a couple of Elk antler bases to try out using that method. Elk antlers may not work as well as your Whitetail antlers did because the brow tine is so close to the base, and I don't have any of the skull plate attached because they are sheds, but I trimmed one and it looks pretty solid at the base. I'm going to try one or two of them to see how it works.

Next I'll go through the Deer antlers - I have a couple that still have the skull plate attached.

Thanks again for the idea.

[jb34]

I thought this was really cool till someone mentioned it looked like the Iowa Hawkeyes. Go Gophers! and nice work.