Dennis,

Annealing a non-ferrous material is just about opposite of ferrous. Heat the brass up till it's red and quickly quench it in water. That will soften it.

I cant tell from the photo, but it looks like the end of the elk antler is ground in a curve. Right? If this is so, I would probably bend/hammer the brass as closely as possible to the curve of the antler, then carefully remove the antler to fit the brass. That's just a suggestion.

Thanks Lin and yes, it is curved. I added another photo. Any suggestions on how to pin the plate to the handle? I was going to just use brass pins. Also, the knife is still in pieces, nothing has been attached to the blade yet. I am going to put guide pins the guard, ferrule and handle before I actually attach everything.

Dennis,

You should be able to bend the brass to fit the antler without annealing it. But, it can't hurt to anneal it first. Shape it as close to the contour of the antler as possible.

When you get ready to fit the brass to the antler; first use a Dremel tool (or some method) to grind away some of the antler in the center of the area where the brass will fit. About a 1/16" deep should be enough. Leave about a 1/8" wide area of material around where the edge of the brass will set. This will reduce the amount of area that you have to deal with in the fit-up.

Then, use a pencil to apply lead to the back of the brass where it will contact the antler. Put the brass in position on the antler and slide the brass against the antler a little. This will transfer lead to the antler where the brass is touching. File away just the lead smears from the antler and repeat the process. Continue until you have a good fit between the brass and the antler.

You didn't mention if your pins will be hidden, or placed through the brass and visible on the surface. If the pins go through the brass, you can clamp a piece of pin stock in a vice and use a hammer to make a nice head on the pin before installing through the brass. If you want the pins hidden, they can be soldered on the back side of the brass. Wood screws work well for hidden pins on something like this. The screw threads give the epoxy something to grip. Use black oxide finished screws (like sheet-rock screws). Zinc coated screws can be difficult to get the solder to stick to.

Thanks for the response Steve. That's a great tip about using the pencil lead to check for high spots on the antler. I was worried about pins holding the plate properly and eventually working loose, so I think the wood screw idea would work best with the curved end of the antler.

Lin, Steve, I got the pommel plate started today and it really looks nice. I used your advise and got it fitting perfectly. Thanks for the help. I will try and post a photo when it is completed.

stupid comment by me here

Here's a pic of what I ended up with. The pic is a little blurry but you can see the fit turned out really nice.

Looks great Dennis... Nice work!