Who has the best prices on stag slabs?

It's not a matter of price anymore. It's a matter of finding it at all. The good stag supply has pretty much dried up. India has not allowed exporting sambar stag for years.

There is a lot of low grade stuff out there with no texture but the good gnarly stuff is hard to find now.

I have some stag grips and they are fine....but I also have had some made from elk antler and they look every bit as good....and in some ways on the heavier calibers they are smoother and thus more comfortable. In my "photo" icon, the top gun has stag grips the middle one, elk antler.

This one has the elk antler grips....

This is some of the best Stag,too bad it is so hard to find now !(the first pic is a Big Bowie Mike Carter made for me)

Beautiful....

I just ordered some stag scales from Culpepper & Co. Culpepper & Co.. 5" x " 1.5" $85 per pair.
I asked for the gnarly rough textured stag. I'll let you know what I get in a couple of days.

In the past I have ordered from Ellen Hunting & Importing. When I checked a couple of days ago, they did have some stag in stock but none with very much texture.

Elk was mentioned here. Elk does make great looking handles and grips. I have some that has been stabilized and dyed to look a lot like stag.

The main reason knifemkaers prefer India sambar stag is that it is much more dense and solid all the way through as compared to elk or other deer. Elk and red deer have a much softer core and the pith is almost like a honeycomb.

Especially if you are making a hidden tang knife, you want the interior part as solid as you can get. It's not as much of an issue with scales or grips but I still like the more solid stag.

Unfortunately, in 1998 India banned, or at least greatly restricted, the export of stag antlers. Some still shows up once in a while but with the supply in the U.S. so depleated the good stuff brings high prices.

Beautiful work Mike & welcome to the forum.

As promised, here are acouple of pair of sambar stag scales I just purchased. These are the best I could find. They are good but not the great gnarly stuff that used to be available.




I mentioned earlier the difference in density between sambar stag and elk. Here you can see the difference between Indian sambar stag on the left and elk on the right.

Thanks for the photos....makes the difference clear. How would red deer stag compare?

Red Deer is usually somewhere in the middle. More dense than elk but less dnse than sambar.

Guys, for what it's worth, I hunt a ranch that has red stag (German subspecies) that has extremely dark horns. I have picked up many sheds over the years and sold them here and there for remounts, etc. If anyone would like some, I may have a few leftover from last year and possibly some fresh sheds in March or April (or whenever I have time to look for them. I have sold them as matched pairs or singles, I have never been asked to cut them into pieces but could do so if you tell me the sizes. Once again, what makes these horns so neat is the very dark color. I have been told it is because of the strain of red deer we have. Let me know if anyone is interested.

Good place to look from time to time for stag for knives is Alpha knife supply. I've had good luck picking scales from pictures posted on the web page.

Good luck, Leftybolt