Can Ivory be De-Scrimshawed?

[JTurner]

Does anyone know if ivory already on a knife can be de-scrimshawed? In other words, can you restore the ivory to its original plain ivory state once it has been scrimshawed by taking off the artwork? If so, how would this be done.

Secondly, would it be considered poor form to do this to a knife after someone spent time doing the scrimshaw work? Don't won't any bad karma floating around my knife, do I?

Thanks...JT

 

[92degrees]

You need to remove material -- how much depends on how deeply the art is etched. It can be done, but it may prove difficult to end up with the ivory flush with bolsters, etc.

 

[HiltonP]

Most scrimshaw sits right on the surface of the ivory. It can be buffed off quite easily, but the danger is that the cleaned surface might then not be as level, flat and true as before. If the handle slabs can be removed (unscrewed) it might be easier. Usually the cleaned off handles never quite look as good as when they were originally made.

As for the "good form" . . . well, if you wish to remove the scrim then I'm presuming it isn't too good, in which case take it off. Not every ivory handle needs to be scrimmed.

P.S. . . . Many years ago I had a custom knifemaker buff off a piece of scrim I'd done because it was positioned in the wrong place on the handle. Took me over 20 hours to do the scrim, and less than 20 seconds for him to remove it. We're still the very best of friends!