Is it legal for me to sell bone or horn handled knives?
by admin on Saturday, November 26th, 2011 | 5 Comments
I have been making knives as a hobby for a while and I would like to post some of them for sale in an online shop. I know that it is illegal for me to hunt a deer and than sell the meat or any body part, why then, can I buy knives online with elk or deer antler handles, I have even seen whole antlers for sale.
If someone can tell me what is required to sell these items 100% legally I would appreciate it.
re: woofer
you’re right about gifting and disposition, I can give you meat and I can throw away the bones but its a serious offense to sell the meat, this is to discourage commercial hunting. I just don’t know about selling the other parts
I’m no hunter but I thought it was only illegal to /waste/ the meat. I thought you could donate/sell it with no problem.
Never heard anything about the bones, though. I don’t imagine they make you keep them around, and if it’s okay to discard them it should be okay to fashion them into things and sell them.
Edit: alright, I guess that makes sense.
I think selling of the meat has more to do with the FDA and their food safety standards and regulation rather than to discouraging commercial hunting.
As far as I know there is no law against selling hand made items out of bone or horns… Unless they are those of endangered or protected animals.
I don’t think this applies in Illinois. I have made knives since 1995 and use a lot of whitetail antler in the process. Sometimes a person will give me the antler and sometimes I have enough on hand . As far as using bone, the only problem I have ever had was getting the bone to dry without checking or cracking. Can’t control the drying process too good unless it is inside and I am pretty sure my wife will not allow bones drying in the house especially if I forgot a little soft tissue on them.
If you really get into knife making, there are plenty of place to buy some very exotic antler and horn and if you are really going big time, you can still get legal ivory or can use mastodon ivory. Wish you well on your hobby.
Get a nice pair of “cut proof gloves” or otherwise anything you earn off the knives wont even cover getting stitches. When I started wearing cut-proof gloves, they laid off three nurses at our local hospital.
I don’t know were your live, as to the laws and where you are getting your antler and bone. If you are purchasing them from a legal business then I would think there wouldn’t be any problems. I have no trouble selling my knives, I get my antler from a ranch and they are sheds. In some places you will need to make sure it is traceable.
YES