Exotic handle material?

Yvsa

Yvsa

Joined
May 18, 1999
Messages
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Just watched a show on the Discovery Channel called, Death Cat Canyon.
It featured the animals that had been caught in the La Brea Tar Pits and that died there several thousands of years ago.
The Saber Tooth Cat was featured strongly in the show. This cat had six inch and plus canines! I got to wondering how one of those would be for a knife handle!
Now that would be Kewl!!!!:cool: :D I'm betting that getting a real one would be damned near as difficult as pulling hen's teeth ainnit?:D ;)
But talk about a patina! Can you imagine the beautiful rich brownish color from all that time in the tar? I wonder if one would indeed make a good knife handle?
Can y'all imagine one on a Seax!!!! Damn, but my imagination is working overtime tonight!:rolleyes: ;)

Then I got to wondering what kind of material they're made of. Do you suppose it's just tooth material? What about Boar's tusks, are they just tooth material too, or are they classified as an ivory?
What makes a tooth ivory like in an elephants, or walruses tusks? Aren't they teeth as well?
The show brought up a helluva lot more questions than it did answers for me when I went off on a tangent.:rolleyes: :D ;)
 
Narwal Ivory
NarwhalSections2.jpg

www.boonetrading.com
 
Uh-Oh.

Got me going now.
Really should go to bed.

http://www.fact-index.com/i/iv/ivory.html

http://www.fact-index.com/w/wa/walrus_ivory.html
"Walrus tusk ivory comes from two modified upper canines. The tusks of a Pacific walrus may attain a length of one meter. Walrus teeth are also commercially carved and traded. The average walrus tooth has a rounded, irregular peg shape and is approximatly 5cm in length.
The tip of a walrus tusk has an enamel coating which is worn away during the animal's youth. Fine longitudinal cracks, which appear as radial cracks in cross-section, originate in the cementum and penetrate the dentine. These cracks can be seen throughout the length of the tusk. Whole cross-sections of walrus tusks are generally oval with widely spaced indentations. The dentine is composed of two types: primary dentine and secondary dentine (often called osteodentine). Primary dentine has a classical ivory appearance. Secondary dentine looks marble or oatmeal-like."

http://www.fact-index.com/e/el/elephant_and_mammoth_ivory.html
"Elephant and mammoth tusk ivory comes from the two modified upper incisors of extant and extinct members of the same order (Proboscidea). African and Asian elephants are both extant. Mammoths have been extinct for 10,000 years. Because of the geographical range in Alaska and Siberia, Mammuthus primigenus tusks have been well preserved. Therefore, Mammuthus primigenus is the only extinct proboscidan which consistently provides high quality, carvable ivory.
An African elephant tusk can grow to 3.5 meters in length. Enamel is only present in the tusk tip in young animals. It is soon worn off and not replaced. Whole cross-sections of proboscidean tusks are rounded or oval. Dentine composes 95% of the tusk and will sometimes display broad concentric bands. Cementum, which can be thick in extinct genera, covers the outside of the tusk. Cementum can present a layered appearance, particularly in mammoth.

Polished cross-sections of elephant and mammoth ivory dentine display uniquely characteristic Schreger lines. Schreger lines are commonly referred to as cross-hatchings, engine turnings, or stacked chevrons. Schreger lines can be divided into two categories. The easily seen lines which are closest to the cementum are the outer Schreger lines. The faintly discernable lines found around the tusk nerve or pulp cavities are the inner Schreger lines. The intersections of Schreger lines form angles. These Schreger angles appear in two forms: concave angles and convex angles. Concave angles have slightly concave sides and open to the medial (inner) area of the tusk. Convex angles have somewhat convex sides and open to the lateral (outer) area of the tusk. Outer Schreger angles, both concave and convex, are acute in extinct proboscidea and obtuse in extant proboscidea."




http://www.mammothivory.info
They have a cave lion skull, but the incisors are tiny.
$50,000

Also fossil wholly rhinoceros horns
much cheaper

&
http://www.ivoryjacks.com/


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As long as your wondering aloud, Yvsa, just think about the tar pits ..say, 110 years ago. What do you want to bet if you could hook something out of there, you could take it home?


munk
 
I have some elk ivory. Its a little larger than the actual halogen light bulb that you have in newer car headlights. wouldn't make a good handle due to its size (and the fact that it is very tooth like including the below gum area) but it might... no I think it might be completely useless for a knife part.

That said. If you could get ahold of a 6" tusk then go for it.
 
IIRC, saber-tooth tiger teeth are protected.....:(
 
Please don't even THINK about using tiger teeth, mine or anyone else's... :eek: Seriously, what about fossil materials- an inset ammonite (shell) in a wood grip would be the coolest. Early Carib ndns used shells for decoration and weapons- their shell-studded war clubs were vicious.
 
munk said:
As long as your wondering aloud, Yvsa, just think about the tar pits ..say, 110 years ago. What do you want to bet if you could hook something out of there, you could take it home?


munk
Click to expand...
betcha that's what the sabre-tooths thought when they tried to hook out a free meal of mastodon...

wonder if they found many human bones who had been attempting to hook something...collection difficulties would kinda drives the price up a bit....
 
Ad Astra said:
Please don't even THINK about using tiger teeth, mine or anyone else's... !:eek: Seriously, what about fossil materials-
Click to expand...
We are talking about fossils. Check out the links and read my posts.:rolleyes: :p
I don't think any saber toothed cats have been around lately.:rolleyes:

Hell, the paleoanthropologists probably blame the early ndns for taking them to extinction like they do the mastodon.:rolleyes: :grumpy:
 
From what I understand the reason they died out is interesting. They slowly were replaced by the big cats with regular teeth. The reason?

Saber teeth are excellent for killing large game but poor for vs. small animals

Regular teeth are average against large prey and average vs. small animals

And when the large game gets less common... guess who wins the survival game....
 
Sorry, Yvsa. I was just making a joke on my tiger avatar. :footinmou . I'm not a tree-hugger or vegtablarian or anything like that. I like stuff made out of natural materials always- wish I had a wooden mouse (they make 'em, but not for macs). I could not even call myself a knife maker, but someday hope to be. Can use those great materials links then. Tx :)
 
No problem Ad.;) Hmm I wonder if Tigers have a baculum?:D Now I'm wondering that if maybe they do, one might be sizable enough for a knife handle. The fossil walrus baculums are big enough, but is known as oosic.:p :D ;)


Just tzn Ad. I don't want no tigger penis bone, even if they have one.:rolleyes: :p
Still, might be interesting fer a knife handle though.:D ;)
 
Yvsa said:
Just tzn Ad. I don't want no tigger penis bone, even if they have one.
Click to expand...

They'd look great as a knife handle, especially if they were striped! :D
 
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