How does bone feel?

Nettle Mooneye · Aug 17, 2009

Hi!

I realise this question is a bit strange, but it’s an important detail in my story, so I need to know. So… How would bone feel to touch? I’m mostly interested in the perceived temperature here – in room temperature, would it feel cold like stone or warmer, more like wood?

Any help is appreciated!

Nettle

alleycat · Aug 17, 2009

I assume you mean a bone that is the remains of someone (or an animals), and not a bone showing throught the skin of someone's wound.

I don't think of it as being either warm or cold. Temperature-wise it's more like wood than stone. But if I was describing someone picking up a bone, I would not use either "cold to the touch" or "warm to the touch", unless maybe if the bone was in a location that would contribute to it being either warm or cold.

Kurtz · Aug 17, 2009

The best way to find out is to buy a joint of meat on the bone, eat it, boil it to hell and then play around with the bone afterwards. As has been said, it's more like wood than anything. At room temperature it's not going to be either hot or cold.

Unless it's radioactive or something.

Nettle Mooneye · Aug 17, 2009

Thanks to you both! I didn't think it would be hot - just warmer than stone, perhaps. And I'd be much happier if I didn't need to buy some meat to find out - I couldn't eat the meat, so I'd just have to throw it away... and besides, it's much easier to ask someone who does already know.

I have a character who is an animated skeleton. Another character is comparing him to living people. And, well, people feel warm, most of the time, so what I need to figure out is how much colder his touch would feel. Stone is cool enough to feel unpleasant, while I think wood is rather neutral - not that bad, really.

Kurtz · Aug 17, 2009

Remember that bone is hollow (at least when decayed), so it can heat up and cool down pretty quickly. I always think it's a kind of neutral feeling, I get more from the surface of the bone than it's temperature (bone is not smooth, it's covered in small marks and bumps). It's also really light when voided of marrow, it's like air.

Ruth2 · Aug 17, 2009

It can also feel waxy if it's not too old.

DeleyanLee · Aug 17, 2009

You have a character who's an animated skeleton--which doesn't exist in reality, so as far as I can see, you can do whatever you want with how it feels to be touched by him.

Does whatever force allows him to live give him warmth or cold? Play with the expectation of one or the other when the POV character touches him. Maybe his temperature changes due to his environment, season or time of day?

Have some fun with with it!

jeseymour · Aug 17, 2009

We buy bones for our dog at the pet supply store. You could easily buy one of those rather than buying meat with a bone in it. The ones we get are already boiled clean.

Fenika · Aug 17, 2009

An animated skeleton would presumably keep it's periosteum (thin membrane outside the bone) and thus would feel smooth.

And ditto what Jesey said- you can then make a gift of it to your doggie owning friends. Or just go over to their house and ask to play with their dog bones before the dogs do

Keep in mind most have have a coating of yummy goo on them though. Some don't...

RJK · Aug 17, 2009

When we were children, my mother took us to a dentist (a distant relative) who had a human skull on his desk. He'd use it to show us how our teeth were attached. He also let us hold it.
He found it in the desert, so it had lots of time to dry out. It was light, but tactile didn't feel any different than a smooth rock. of course, it was room tempurature.

Rowan · Aug 17, 2009

Nettle Mooneye said:
Hi!

I realise this question is a bit strange, but it’s an important detail in my story, so I need to know. So… How would bone feel to touch? I’m mostly interested in the perceived temperature here – in room temperature, would it feel cold like stone or warmer, more like wood?

Any help is appreciated!

Nettle

Speaking from handling cadavers / bones in Human Anatomy... :tongue

'Dried' bones aren't necessarily smooth - they are porous and can feel slightly rough to the touch (depending upon where you touch). The bones in the actual cadaver had a more solid feel, smoother texture due to the moisture content. As for "temp" of bones --- I would go with warmer (like wood). They didn't feel cold like a stone to me but then I was in a lab. They kind of feel like plaster (uneven surface, slightly rough texture, etc.) Hope that helps!

semilargeintestine · Aug 17, 2009

I've only ever felt bone while inside of a person and with gloves on. It feels like wood to me. Slippery wood (because of the fluids).

I'm terrible at describing things like that though.

Haggis · Aug 17, 2009

Ruth2 said:
It can also feel waxy if it's not too old.

Possibly greasy as well. It depends on where the bone is, how long it's been away from the body, etc.

Canotila · Aug 18, 2009

RJK said:
When we were children, my mother took us to a dentist (a distant relative) who had a human skull on his desk. He'd use it to show us how our teeth were attached. He also let us hold it.
He found it in the desert, so it had lots of time to dry out. It was light, but tactile didn't feel any different than a smooth rock. of course, it was room tempurature.

He didn't take it to the police?!?!?

Edited to add: Back on topic, bone can also feel soft and chalky if it's been buried for a while, especially in a loamy clay soil.

Nivarion · Aug 18, 2009

As a hunter and outdoorsman I've handled a lot of them at different points. If they were sitting in the open

A fresh bone feels like a candle stick.
About a week latter it would feel like a fiberglass hammer handle.
About a week after that it would feel like sanded wood.
About a week after that it starts to feel like rough wood.
About another week it begins to get dry and sort of cracked.

The oldest set of bones I've ever seen was on a backpacking trip. It was a goat that had been killed by a mountain lion. I didn't handle them because there was another kill next to them, and i didn't want any trouble. (they mistake you for a predator or a scavenger, and get territorial.)

Anyways, they were cracked and were splintering out from the bites.

Nettle Mooneye · Aug 19, 2009

Thanks, all! This has been very helpful, and I think I now have the information I need. I don't have any friends with dogs, but I'll give the animal shop a go. Still, if I can't find anything myself, I think I now have the basic idea.

To Bahamutchild:

While my animated skeleton is a fantasy creature, and thus I could, technically, just make things up, I do wish him to feel rather bony. I feel it fits this particular story bettter. Still, those are interesting things to consider. Thanks!
Nettle

SouthernFriedJulie · Aug 20, 2009

Nivarion said:
As a hunter and outdoorsman I've handled a lot of them at different points. If they were sitting in the open

A fresh bone feels like a candle stick.
About a week latter it would feel like a fiberglass hammer handle.
About a week after that it would feel like sanded wood.
About a week after that it starts to feel like rough wood.
About another week it begins to get dry and sort of cracked.

The oldest set of bones I've ever seen was on a backpacking trip. It was a goat that had been killed by a mountain lion. I didn't handle them because there was another kill next to them, and i didn't want any trouble. (they mistake you for a predator or a scavenger, and get territorial.)

Anyways, they were cracked and were splintering out from the bites.

I used to butcher in my farmin' days and that has to be one of the best descriptions of bone 'feel' I've read.

If the skeleton character has been indoors most of the time, I would think he'd have the fiberglass handle feel. Moving around may have kept his outsides polishes smooth, much like a bone handle of a knife.

icerose · Aug 20, 2009

Also how the bone is processed will change the feel. If it isn't allowed to go through the natural decay, like if it's polished or boiled it will feel different then a bone just sitting out in the weather.

frimble3 · Aug 21, 2009

A butcher shop (even in supermarkets some do their own cutting) would surely allow you to handle a waste bone and then return it for disposal? If you explain why.
If you're looking for older bone, for an animated skeleton, aside from hospitals, which might have an articulated one (but I'd bet a lot are replicas these days) you might try a local museum or a taxidermy shop - either one probably mounts animal skeletons and bones, after all, are bones.

How does bone feel?

Nettle Mooneye

alleycat

Still around

Kurtz

Fix up, look sharp.

Nettle Mooneye

Kurtz

Fix up, look sharp.

Ruth2

Tam, na Koncu Drevoreda

DeleyanLee

Writing Anarchist

jeseymour

Fenika

RJK

Sheriff Bullwinkle the Poet says:

Rowan

semilargeintestine

BassGirl 5000

Haggis

Evil, undead Chihuahua

Canotila

Sever your leg please.

Nivarion

Brony level >9000

Nettle Mooneye

SouthernFriedJulie

Hidin' the bodies

icerose

Lost in School Work

frimble3

Heckuva good sport