Eric, im probably going to neeed to copy your idea. The elk is so soft in the center I dont see it holding. Pluss I like how the lams look. Thanks guys.
Elks are soft in the middle! ;-)
I was just about to compliment Eric on the quality of that work. Looks great. That's funny, because I once did the same thing to an arrow that got dinged, where I sanded out the ding on a 3" drill press drum, then glued in a splint, just bent a flat slip of hemlock (I think) into theat rounded divot, and worked it back round. Worked amazingly well.
I liked your idea about rope and glue. You can also make a little rasp by bolting 4-5 hacksaw blades together and sawing that in to square up the gouge. Then you can glue in a squared splint. Often, though, I just go ahead and cut the handle area to a rectangle x-section, as small as I dare, and buld it back with wood splints, or veggie-tanned leather, (which I like because I can carve the handle shape then with a knife, and soak it in superglue to harden.)
