Game priest

[fatchap]

I've made a few fishing priests before and got asked by a shooting pal of mine to make him a game priest. He wanted it for dispatching birds, pigeon etc. 

After a bit of research It seems there is not much difference between a game and fishing priest,  unfortunatly all the antler I had was an ugly crown and I hate working with them, especially for making priests, a nice straight roll is what I like, but hey ho.

This particular bit still had fur on it, had 3 cuts and a nasty twist at the end which would have been ideal if the person was left handed, as I didn't know I had to cut the twist off, making the antler too short. So I binned it. Had another rummage through my antler box and couldn't find anything suitable. So dug it back out of the bin and had a think...........and more thinking......then went and had a beer.

Day2...How can I make this look anyway presentable not to mention sellable? I cut off the fur, cleaned up the crown with the belt grinder, bored it out making sure I didn't burst the sides as it thinned rapidly, filled the cavity with molten lead. I then cut some brass block to cover one of the cuts and to double as the bit that does the buisness. on the unfortunate birdie. Glued and screwed it into place. Filled and ground it to a teardrop shape, 

Then made a cap to cover the lead, which was some brass plate topped with some fancy wood I found, which also made the handle. I then shaped a handle to replace the twist I cut off, used a brass spacer between the antler and wood. Then ground and polished the hell out of it.

Its still ugly in my opinion.....

 

Edited July 6, 2018 by fatchap

[Dave at kelton]

Darent show mine. Ten inches of hose pipe with an AA battery in the end. Nice and flexible when in your pocket. It is though a last resort as I nearly always use game pliers.

[wisdom]

I like that to be honest.A little different from the norm.

[Delwint]

I like it a lot, I’ll buy it if he doesn’t ?

[mel b3]

I think that it looks brilliant ?

[Walker570]

It'll do the job for sure. I like the mix of materials as well.

[fatchap]

9 hours ago, Delwint said:

I like it a lot, I’ll buy it if he doesn’t ?

He did like it and bought it.

Thanks for the replies, people.

[Old Boggy]

That's really good and thanks for the detailed write up.

 It's inspired me to have a go at something similar as I have a couple of large coronets that might just be adaptable, but until I read your post I wasn't sure how to proceed.

Thanks again for posting.

OB

Edited July 7, 2018 by Old Boggy

[ditchman]

yup i like it too...as walker says " a nice mix of materials"...one thing i would have done tho'...put a hole in the end for a leather bootlace....i would be gutted if i lost that...