We hope you all enjoyed the lovely, sunny fall weekend that we just had. Our group certainly did - we had the opportunity to meet with an experienced nalbinder and Medieval re-enactor, Linda, as well as her friend Lynn. Lynn so graciously invited us into her home for the afternoon, while Linda shared her time for an amazing four-hour nalbinding lesson! Unfortunately, however, that is not the topic of this evening's blog post - stay tuned over the next few days to hear more about it! ;)
Now, back to our needle-making extravaganza.
We used antler as our second material in the attempt to create nalbinding needles. On a trip to the pet store for her two dogs at home, Teresa was able to find some pretty ideal "100% naturally shed" antler tips that we would use as our primary material. Remembering the success and relative ease of that we experienced making wood needles, we began this project with enthusiasm, and were quite sure that it would go swimmingly!
We learned right away that it would be a much longer process. The antler was extremely dense, making it difficult to saw through as we had with the wood needles. It was decided that we would need to anchor the piece of antler in order to stabilize it for cutting, so we used three screws to hold it in place on a small wooden platform. This helped greatly, as we were then able to work at it with a saw in an effective way. It did still, however, take much more time than sawing the wood needles, partly because we decided to use a hack saw in an effort to remain close to the tools that would have been used during the Viking Age.
It also became quickly evident that the choice to work outside was a good one. The 'dust' that came from the antler as it was sawed could be smelled from several feet away, and let me tell you - it was not pleasant! But this small bit of smell-oriented discomfort was well worth it, as soon we had cut the antler piece into three different sections and were able to finish up and produce a beautiful nalbinding needle.
Fine and medium metal files were used to shape the piece of antler into the shape of a needle, as well as to smooth out the sides. We used a drill to make the hole again, as it would have taken even longer than the wood needles to produce a hole without this tool.
If I were to do this again, I would follow the suggestions of some others who have made nalbinding needles from antler - try visiting this link to Genvieve's SCA blog, for example. In particular, I would try soaking the antler in water for a few days prior to the experiment, and would boil it right before use so that it was still wet for working. I can imagine that this step of Genvieve's would work to help control the smell and powder-like dust that comes from the antler as it is being sawed.
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| Our finished antler needle product! |
When all is said and done, I'd say the antler needle turned out exceptionally well. Although it took a bit more time than the wood needle did, it is smooth and sturdy, making it both nice to hold and unlikely to break. I am excited for the next step - giving this needle a try after I have a little bit more experience with the nalbinding stitch first under my belt.
Well, thanks for stopping by nalbinders! Feel free to ask us any questions if this is something you are interested in trying at home!
Wishing everyone an awesome week ahead.
-KA
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