Damascus and sperm whale

Talking about Sperm Whale teeth, how many of you have actualy
seen or handled one? It is an amazing piece of "ivory" from a truly
amazing sea mammal.
I have one such tooth on my desk for many many years, given to me
by a Russian knifemaker.

Here is what it looks like:

Sperm-Whale-tooth.jpg



All the best,
David Darom (ddd)
 
First off welcome to the forums

That is an excellent knife

The pattern is beautiful

I love the whales tooth as a handle material and I will assume unless our new friend is a whaler it was procured back when there where no regs against it .

IMHO as was mentioned whaleing has been around for along time and there are many whale teeth around the world. To use one in scrimshaw art or to make a knife handle is again IMHO fine and an excellent choice. I have had to procure many a cites permit to bring so called protected animals I have harvested into this country. I am by no means saying I would like to see current harvesting of Sperm Whales but this country is full of opinions and mine is that I see no problem in useing materials from extinct or endangered animals or animals requireing cities permits as long as they where legally obtained.

I am a conservationilst I spend my money on tags and licenses around the country and the world . At one time I was buying licenses in 13 states just to try and draw tags . putting up thousands a year to benefit wildlife and its habitat.

I belong to

FNAWLS
GSCO
SCI
NRA
Elk foundation
Billfish foundation
and many more

BTW how do all you guys that like and use Ivory know that it is pre ban ivory. Poaching is still big business for the natives and that is why you are accompanied by a game scout when you hunt in most countries first to keep an eye on you secondly it is a free ride for the game scout. Point is you really dont know what you are buying they dont market poached Ivory as poached Ivory.

I have a friend a long time hunting partner hunting elephant in Botswana right now I will ask him about the poaching there but I already know the answer.
 
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Great looking knife! I love the way that blade came out especially! Absolutely beautiful pattern.
 
Beautiful work!!!!!!!. .... Congratulations Facu, this is a great job.

Facundo is a young knifemaker of great talent.

Horacio

PS: I see you in the MAC
 
I feel the need to add a comment...........Whales teeth are very common in Hawaii........as recently as the '70s (but much more so a decade or two earlier) there were big oak barrels FULL of whales teeth for sale in Lahina.........I have been given dozens of them by a friend in exchange for knife blades........
As with elephant ivory..........what was once harvested legally and plentifully does not mean we have to stop using it.......especially whales teeth.........they are not hunted anymore except in Northern Japan, and there is considerable pressure to have them stop.........I dont think we have to worry about some guy paddling his canoe out to the Molokai channel so he can get some whales teeth!!!
 
Handle material choice aside, this is the finest hunter I have seen posted here in some time (in my opinion, anyway).
The overall proportions and are dead-on and you made an excellent choice in selecting the guard style. It has a very unique and appealing version of feather pattern of which I haven't seen before. The well executed border cut and grooved spacer contributes significantly here as does the file-worked liners both of which show influence from Tim Hancock. I will add though that I feel the frame liners could have been better executed.

Having said the above, I feel it would have been wise to utilize perhaps a more appropriate and less controversial handle material as I don't feel this piece's appeal would have suffered at all from using any number of premium handle materials.

You have serious talent and I hope you will post more of your work here, however I would suggest staying away from materials from endangered species. If I were a knifemaker I wouldn't even use elephant ivory as there's just too much potential down-side especially when considering all the other premium and beautiful handle materials out there.
 
Kevin Jones said:
Handle material choice aside, this is the finest hunter I have seen posted here in some time (in my opinion, anyway).
The overall proportions and are dead-on and you made an excellent choice in selecting the guard style. It has a very unique and appealing version of feather pattern of which I haven't seen before. The well executed border cut and grooved spacer contributes significantly here as does the file-worked liners both of which show influence from Tim Hancock. I will add though that I feel the frame liners could have been better executed.

Having said the above, I feel it would have been wise to utilize perhaps a more appropriate and less controversial handle material as I don't feel this piece's appeal would have suffered at all from using any number of premium handle materials.

You have serious talent and I hope you will post more of your work here, however I would suggest staying away from materials from endangered species. If I were a knifemaker I wouldn't even use elephant ivory as there's just too much potential down-side especially when considering all the other premium and beautiful handle materials out there.
Click to expand...

Now that I've been able to express an opinion about endangered species, with which I find many disagree and many agree, I believe I'll end my thoughts and pay equal tribute to the knife and the knifemaker. Indeed, the knife is gorgeous. Notwithstanding the handle material, it's a magnificent piece of material, too. I think Kevin's comments are right on.

Bob Betzner
 
I love a happy ending this is a fine knife from a fine knife maker thank you for showing it here
 
Black Rhinos are endangered

White Rhinos are protected and can be harvested with a cites permit
 
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Mal2 said:
Beautiful knife.

We do have to be careful, however. Just look what happened to the Mammoth when its tusks started being used in knife scales...
Click to expand...

Classic! I would also add that the unregulated harvesting of Megladon teeth has really put a damper on the recovery of that species, although that said, I would totally rock a Megladon tooth necklace if I could only land one with my fishing pole.









Kidding aside, I have no issues with a sperm whale tooth as long as it is not coming out of Japan on the black market! Whale hunting, yes, even Sperm whale hunting is an important and interesting part of our history.

I would own and use ivory handled knives and yes, sperm whale handled knives if I could prove the provenance of them. Therein lies the problem, especially with whale teeth. You would assumed to be in violation of the law until you could prove otherwise! Possession of most items that come from endangered or even protected species can cause all sorts of problems.

You would be better off having knife scales made out of a sitting president's Grandmother's leg bone than find out you have a piece of illegal material from an endangered species the hard way.



To the original poster, that is a fantastic knife!

I would love to own and use that knife!

Great looking handle.

Awesome looking pattern in the damascus steel as well.
 
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