Boot polishing deer leg bone???

Monkey Spanker

Well-Known Member
Odd question!!
I've been asked today if I can supply a deer leg bone to polish and restore a farmers wife's hunting boots!
I've found them for sale so it is true that they are used.
Does anyone know which species and particular bone is best?
How is it treated?
MS
 
Red hind tibia are preferable I believe - larger size, flatter surface. Make sure that boot trees are used, and that the boots are made of wax, not box, calf leather.

Full details (including DVD!) available here:

Deer Bones For Wax Calf Horace Batten

Or, for a better class of bone:

John Lobb Ltd Online Store

We ran a CA Quiz night some years ago and had a number of curious objects that the audience had to guess the use of. This one defeated most.
 
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like Willie says red is best Horace batten used to live in the next village sad!y passed a short while ago think he was over 100 .his business lives on !
Norma
 
Yes red deer supplied them to a hunt ,once upon a time, treatment don't know just got an order for front legs they took them as they were and dealt with them themselves.
 
I have supplied a couple for this purpose in the past. Don't recall being asked for a specific species just a large cannon bone.

Once I gave the person a red and a roe and they were very pleased to have a 'set'. I simply boiled them out and peroxided them.

I believe the tradition came from Stag Hunting.
 
They're used to rub scratchea in the leather surface back in, from briers or the like.
Put a fair bit of polish in/around the scratch and then rub in with the bone. Have done it numerous times myself with the places I've ended up!!
 
Any knuckle bone or with a rounded smooth end will do the same job as the good old fashioned spoon did for thousands of soldiers in the past.

Is this akin to the method of spooning military boot toecaps for getting the high gloss shine?

No, it's nothing like 'bulling' toe caps.

Waxed Calf is uniquely for hunting boots. The leather is tanned by a special process that retains natural oils and waxes and is used by the boot maker inside out, i.e. the outside of the boot is the inside of the hide. The rough surface of the leather is smoothed down by a series of applications of polish using a deer bone against the support of the boot tree to bring it up to a high shine. When the surface is scratched by hedges, gorse etc. it can be brought back to a high shine using the same technique. It is the edge of the bone that is used, not the knuckle end.
It would appear that the bone is the ideal tool as it retains natural oils and should be kept in a bag so that it doesn't dry out.
Thanks for all the replies. If only he asked me last month when we were culling lots of large deer! :rolleyes: I should be able to get a Fallow Buck one which I hope will suffice.
Cheers,
MS
 
No, it's nothing like 'bulling' toe caps.

Waxed Calf is uniquely for hunting boots. The leather is tanned by a special process that retains natural oils and waxes and is used by the boot maker inside out, i.e. the outside of the boot is the inside of the hide. The rough surface of the leather is smoothed down by a series of applications of polish using a deer bone against the support of the boot tree to bring it up to a high shine. When the surface is scratched by hedges, gorse etc. it can be brought back to a high shine using the same technique. It is the edge of the bone that is used, not the knuckle end.
It would appear that the bone is the ideal tool as it retains natural oils and should be kept in a bag so that it doesn't dry out.
Thanks for all the replies. If only he asked me last month when we were culling lots of large deer! :rolleyes: I should be able to get a Fallow Buck one which I hope will suffice.
Cheers,
MS

Exactly - though I believe wax calf is also used for the boots of the Household Cavalry
 
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