This is a genuine American Bison front leg bone. Harder than cow bone, the very best bone for nuts and saddles on ukuleles. I got a number of buffalo front legs from a local rancher, skinned them, sawed them to length, simmered off the sinew and marrow and now they are dry and ready to use. A lot of work but I think they add something to the sound of my instruments.
Look at the thickness of that bone. I saw it into four pieces on the bandsaw and then take it to the thickness sander to sand it down to the thickness I want for saddles and nuts.
These nice wide pieces will be sawn up with a jeweler's saw into saddles. I have thinned them down on the sander so they will just slip into the slot cut on the bridges for the pinecones.
 with a jeweler's saw I cut the nuts to length there will be lots of fine fitting later. |  Here are the four bridges for the pinecones, the thin bone slices that fit into their slots perfectly and the four thicker pieces of bone that will be shaped into nuts. |
It was a productive day. I got the sides attached to the first tenor. This is the Cumuru/Juniper/Alaska Cedar uke that will be given to the Christie family summer home on San Juan Island. The Cumuru is made from scraps left over from their new deck. The juniper from a limb stump left by the previous owner after cutting off a large limb from the juniper tree on the property. The fretboard will be Pacific Yew. Hopefully the uke will be left at "Cape House" to be played by all who visit for generations to come.
