Handle advice

[tooleman]

I have these deer antlers and I want to use them for a handle for a knife. I have seen where you can cut and drill the middle and shove the handle into the antler, however I really don't want to go that route. So that is where I could use some advice. I thought about cutting the thick part in half long ways and attaching it to the knife with rivets.

 

[finnegan]

Having made a few antlered handle knives, I agree with your choice. I absolutely hate it when someone orders a "full antler" knife because that means either the blade's tang will be short to cater to the straightest part of the handle, or that I have to do a complex "curved cut" and subsequently forge a curved tang to fit it.
Antler slabs riveted on to the full tang is absolutely going to produce the best knife, structurally. If you want a point or two at the end, affix them as a pommel and hide the seam with some sinew, brass, or fur.
On this subject, my favorite "deer" piece was a longsword. I used a long antler point as the crossguard and the hoof as the pommel. Loved it, so did the buyer.