How To Engrave On Bones

November 16, 2022

Hey hey! Nice to see you here, we meet once again in the third chapter of our Engraving series.

My mission is to teach the best and simplest way to engrave on different surfaces.

I leave you here below, in case you are interested, the direct link to the previous blogs on "How to engrave on leather" and "How to engrave on glass".

Let's get started!

Steps To Engrave On Bones

1. Make a sketch of a design you want to make out of bone and visualize how it will look in 3-D.

2. Obtain a bone and use a coping saw to cut it to the size required for your project.

3. Remove all excess bone tissue and marrow.

4. Soak the bone in a plastic container with 2 quarts of water, 1 cup of bleach, and 1 cup of laundry detergent for 24 hours.

After 24 hours, remove the bone and wash it in cold water. If you want to make the bone whiter and softer, which will make it easier to carve, soak it again.

Additionally, people boil the bones for 12 hours, which is a laborious process but also useful for cleaning and whitening the bones.

5. After washing, let the bone air dry.

6. On a piece of paper or a cutting board, sketch out the design.

7. With the aid of 100-grit sandpaper, shape the bone into the desired shape by rounding out any sharp edges so it resembles the drawn outline.

8. Use The Customizer to engrave the bone while referring to your sketched design.

Use smaller bits when working with a small bone or carving an intricate design, and larger bits when working with a large bone or carving a simple design.

9. There may be some left scratch marks on the bone, sanding it will smooth out the surface and get rid of them. Begin with 100-grit sandpaper, then 150-grit sandpaper, and finally 220-grit sandpaper. Polish the engraving with a 600-grit drill bit in The Customizer.

Once you get the hang of it, bone carving is as simple and versatile as wood carving. However, with a few exceptions, the carving techniques you will use will be very similar. With the proper bits you will achieve amazing results. Finally, avoid using more chemicals to achieve faster results when preparing bones for carving because this takes patience.

Here are some ideas from the community that may inspire you.

If you have questions, post them in the comments below, I will read them, and remember you can always subscribe to our newsletter which offers discounts and a new wood project every week. Hope you enjoyed it, and thanks for stopping by.

Back to Crafting blogs and guides

4 comments

Please don’t bleach your bones, use borax instead. And don’t boil your bones for 12 hours, that’s a soup stock thing, it makes the bones brittle. Soaking your bones with borax and warm water will whiten your bones.

Bone is certainly fun to carve and etch into… so is auto bondo. One can easily mix a small batch of bondo and spread it between two sheets of serran wrap using a light amount of rolling pressure of a kitchen rolling pin. When this material finally sets up solid it can easily be carved using your culiau engraving toolset.

I have done this to customize an old 8mm Mauser’s wooden rifle stock to appear as though it’s been inlaid with deer antler. I also created hand grips for my western style revolver by creating a silicone rubber mold of both factory grips then filled with bondo and allowed to set, then ultimately using culiau’s rechargeable die grinding tool to create that “antler bone” surface with this amazing easy to use tool.

I love the engraving pen so much, when I can ill buy another so easy to use and light, I do have Rheumatoid arthritis, I so frustrated I can’t work anymore like before, now with the pen I O started again in small period of time helping me to cope with my pain and depression- thanks so much for all your product and the course explaining how to use the tool and material, nobody does that, other than some YouTube videos . thanks again. Kind regards Mabelleo from Australia:)

Thank you!👋🏻👍🏻🇨🇭