A restored mammoth tusk

Mark Knapp

Mark Knapp

Joined
Dec 20, 2009
Messages
4,421
I just finished restoring this tusk. It's owner is picking it up this week. Thought you'd like to see it before it goes.

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Wow that’s cool! Curious about the process that took, I’m sure there’s a lot of time invested in that.
 
Jsega51 said:
Wow that’s cool! Curious about the process that took, I’m sure there’s a lot of time invested in that.
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Yes, it's a whole thing. First you let it dry for a year with hose clamps on it so it doesn't crack. Then you start to sand all the rotten stuff off while saving the dust. Next you hose it down with CA glue to seal it all up and stabilize it. Then you fill all the cracks with epoxy mixed with the ivory dust you saved. You add tints to the epoxy mixture so the colors match. you give it a final sanding all the way through the grits, and finish with paste wax. Takes about a year and a half. It's a piece of cake.
 
It's a beauty, Mark, just like every other one you have posted over time. I doubt if anyone could do it better!
 
Wow, that’s beautiful! Very impressive job! :)
 
Hello Mark, how long is that beauty ?? I just watched a show where in Siberia they blast tunnels in the wall of permafrost to get in and find Tusks etc.. very dangerous work tunneling into a snow cone and hoping it doesn’t collapse on you when there in another guy blasting another tunnel above you :eek:
 
Mark Knapp said:
Yes, it's a whole thing. First you let it dry for a year with hose clamps on it so it doesn't crack. Then you start to sand all the rotten stuff off while saving the dust. Next you hose it down with CA glue to seal it all up and stabilize it. Then you fill all the cracks with epoxy mixed with the ivory dust you saved. You add tints to the epoxy mixture so the colors match. you give it a final sanding all the way through the grits, and finish with paste wax. Takes about a year and a half. It's a piece of cake.
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Pfft, childs play, people pay for this unskilled cake walk?

In all seriousness you did an amazing job. This looks like something that belongs as a centrepiece in a museum lobby. Great job and very cool! Thanks for sharing this.
 
That is just incredible!!!! I hate to ask how much something like this might be worth
 
Rhinoknives1 said:
Hello Mark, how long is that beauty ?? I just watched a show where in Siberia they blast tunnels in the wall of permafrost to get in and find Tusks etc.. very dangerous work tunneling into a snow cone and hoping it doesn’t collapse on you when there in another guy blasting another tunnel above you :eek:
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This one is about 8 feet long. The longest I've done was 11 1/2 feet long.
 
Babboonbobo said:
All I want to know is where do you acquire a mammoth tusk?! That would be awesome but nothing that large.
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I buy them mostly from native people but also from miners and people that move a lot of dirt in their occupations like road construction and gravel pits.
Rhinoknives1 said:
Thanks, it was hard to tell from the pic, 8’ is a good sized tusk! 11 1/2’ must have been the Matriarch of all time!
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Here's a picture of the 11 1/2 foot tusk. It went to South Africa of all places. Incidentally, it was the patriarch, the males were much larger than the females.

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You are correct , I know African Bulls are larger, for some reason I remembered incorrectly that the Cows were larger with Anicent Mastodons.———————That’s one heck of a Tusk!
 
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