Finishing Ivory and Stag Surfaces

Peter Atwood

Peter Atwood

Joined
Oct 26, 2000
Messages
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Brad's post reminded me of some questions that I had about these materials....

I have seen a lot of posts talking about the sanding and flattening of these materials. I know you need to go very slow especially with the mammoth and other ivories, even waiting weeks between sanding sessions. However, I haven't seen much advice on dealing with the surfaces.

Should the surface of stag or ivory be buffed? WIll buffing remove the color? Should it be sealed?

My experience messing with a piece of moose antler seemed to indicate that the brown color came off fairly easily. Made me wonder if that nice brown on stag is just dirt....
 
Peter,
One thing I do is to remove as much material as possible ON THE BACK SIDE of the scales. I try to get the scale as thin as possible. This way, it leaves more "character" where it really counts, on the outside. It can be lightly buffed but with any material, don't get carried away. Just don't use a dirty buff on any of the handle material (particular a buffing wheel that has been used on steel or especially brass).

Along these same lines, I have seen that some folks may have trouble buffing ivory micarta and dirt showing up. I have never had that problem when using a clean buffing wheel.

C Wilkins
 
Well, I'm no expert Peter, but here's what I've been doing. I've only used ivory one time so far. And that was just for a spacer on a hunter. But I use lots of stag.

What I do is hand sand the material down to at least 1,000 grit and then seal it with cutler's resin. That's a mixture of pine pitch, beeswax and carnauba wax. You have to melt the resin in order to use it. I melt it in a small sauce pan and dunk the handle in it and also ladle the resin onto all parts of the handle. I keep doing this until the entire handle is warm and the resin has had a chance to absorb into the wood, antler, bone or whatever. You'll see bubbles coming from the materials when it's actively absorbing the resin. Then I remove the handle from the resin and use a heat gun to get all of the excess off. Wipe it down quickly with a rag and then buff if with a clean, lint free cloth till it glows.

The cutler's resin acts as a seal and finish at the same time. In my opinion, it locks out any chance for mositure to enter the handle if you do it right. Makes for a completely waterproof handle or I'll eat my doo-rag! It also ages the ivory, stag, bone very evenly. Very natural warm look to it. I've been doing that with all my handles now for about 6 months. I'm really pleased with the results. It doesn't seem to affect man made materials much but it will still seal any cracks between the scales and tang and also fill in any voids around the pins. Great stuff.
 
Max, Ive never heard of that method before. A thought comes to mind, why the pine pitch in the mixture? That stuff is sticky and wont come off me when I get into it. I would think your mix would work without it. I like your method and will give it a go.
 
Hey Bruce, pine pitch is the most important part of the cutler's resin. The other additives just make it more flexible and not quite so brittle. Pine pitch will cure to a very nice smooth, glassy finish by itself. That's what Amber is. Fossilized pitch.

Beeswax and carnauba wax by themselves will seal handle materials. But, without the pine pitch there is no staying power. Trust me, the pitch is the key to the recipe. It really works. Try it with the pitch first. Then, if you don't like the results, try the waxes. Without the pitch, it's not cutler's resin. Here's my favorite recipe for cutler's resin. I use it for sealing scales to full tang knives and also for filling the spaces in a hidden tang knife.

1/2 lb of pine pitch
1/4 lb of beeswax
1/4 cup of flaked carnauba wax

Heat the pine pitch slowly in a sauce pan and add the beeswax and carnauba wax and stir till it's combined. It will never separate. Have fun. It's great stuff.
 
Max, OK Im convinced that I need the pine pitch. Where do I buy 1/2lb of pitch? I assume you buy it. I could always try to gather up some out in the woods.
 
Sounds like great advice to me. But would you use the cutlers on mammoth ivory? Does it change the color significantly? I wonder what the long term color fastness/clearness properties are. Maybe it could yellow.....
 
Bruce, I'm thinking pine pitch is avaialble through Rio Grande or Centaur Forge, one or the other. Pine pitch is traditionally used in chasing and other metal working techniques. For instance, a vessel to be decorated might be filled with pine pitch, then chased, then heated and cleaned out.
 
Peter, I don't know about yellowing ivory over time. I do know that it gives ivory a certain amount of depth and brings out the pattern or grain in it. You'll just have to try it for yourself so you can see what I mean. I don't think it would change color over time though. Just what I think. I haven't been using it long enough to be sure. Time will tell.
 
So do you use your wife's favorite sauce pan to do this???

And how big of a mess does it really make???

It does sound like a good idea though. Can you post a picture of a stag handled knife with the treatment done??? That would be great.

Thanks,
Nick
 
This is my most recent finished blade. I finished it off with cutler's resin. Sure, it's a mess. But which part of knifemaking isn't a mess? And I own all the saucepans in my house. I'm the chief cook. My wife is the bottle washer. It's a fair trade for both of us because I hate to wash dishes and she don't like to cook. Heh. Such a deal. :)

Anyway, here's the pic. The blade is cable damascus. The handle is composed of a copper guard, ivory spacer, thuya burl with a nickel silver spacer and whitetail antler crown with a brass pin. Yes, I actually used all three non-ferrous metals on this knife. It turned out great! Now let's see if I remember how to post a pic. I know the pic sux. But, I'm a knifemaker, not a pic taker.

Sorry, no pic but here's a link.

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/ViewPhoto?u=1189412&a=8767365&p=53404391&f=0
 
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