- Joined
- Dec 20, 2009
- Messages
- 4,421
Here's a couple of fun things I have been asked to show. First of all, a couple knives I made some stands for and a bowl. I apologize in advance if you are tired of seeing these knives, they have been on this forum a little already.
Next, some people have asked me to show how we prepare mammoth ivory for sale.
First the tusk is cut into sections about 5 inches long, this is when you learn if you are going to make any money on a tusk. We find out if there is any solid material in there for handle material and we learn how far the color of the bark goes in. It's very hard to tell from the outside how good a tusk will be, we make the best educated guess that we can. You can see from the color of the "bark" and the color of the interior that this tusk, as are 99% of them, would be very hard to mistake for an elephant tusk. You can see Schreger lines on this tusk, Schreger lines can be used to determine if a piece of ivory is ancient or modern.
After they are cut into sections, the handle sections are laid out in the tusk to make the cuts around the cracks. This is the most solid tusk I have ever bought so it will yield more interior ivory than most, as well as some bark for scales, however, over 50% of it will not be useful for knife making. It will be sold to jewelry makers.
As soon as the pieces are cut they are painted with sealant on the ends to keep them from cracking any more than they already have.
After the handle sections are cut, they are packed in plastic totes to "cure". The totes are covered but left unsealed so that there is a little bit of air transfer. Ivory cut to cure in this way will be ready for sale a lot sooner than ivory left in the tusk form. It will also crack a lot less. I will check them from time to time with a moisture gauge, they will be ready for sale when the gauge reads about 7-8 percent. You can see even now, with no bark on them, these pieces look a lot different than elephant ivory, even if we don't measure the angles of the Schreger lines. Schreger lines are evident on every piece of this ivory and could easily be measured if there was any question as to the species this ivory came from.
Next, some people have asked me to show how we prepare mammoth ivory for sale.
First the tusk is cut into sections about 5 inches long, this is when you learn if you are going to make any money on a tusk. We find out if there is any solid material in there for handle material and we learn how far the color of the bark goes in. It's very hard to tell from the outside how good a tusk will be, we make the best educated guess that we can. You can see from the color of the "bark" and the color of the interior that this tusk, as are 99% of them, would be very hard to mistake for an elephant tusk. You can see Schreger lines on this tusk, Schreger lines can be used to determine if a piece of ivory is ancient or modern.
After they are cut into sections, the handle sections are laid out in the tusk to make the cuts around the cracks. This is the most solid tusk I have ever bought so it will yield more interior ivory than most, as well as some bark for scales, however, over 50% of it will not be useful for knife making. It will be sold to jewelry makers.
As soon as the pieces are cut they are painted with sealant on the ends to keep them from cracking any more than they already have.
After the handle sections are cut, they are packed in plastic totes to "cure". The totes are covered but left unsealed so that there is a little bit of air transfer. Ivory cut to cure in this way will be ready for sale a lot sooner than ivory left in the tusk form. It will also crack a lot less. I will check them from time to time with a moisture gauge, they will be ready for sale when the gauge reads about 7-8 percent. You can see even now, with no bark on them, these pieces look a lot different than elephant ivory, even if we don't measure the angles of the Schreger lines. Schreger lines are evident on every piece of this ivory and could easily be measured if there was any question as to the species this ivory came from.
Last edited:
