Full Ivory Overlay

[sierra11b]

Back when my interest for making knives peaked I kindly asked a local knife smith named Al Warren to teach me his craft. Most here have probably heard of this sincerely kindhearted gentleman and know he makes a great slip joint to boot.

Mr. Warren was nice enough to invite me into his home/shop to assist my endeavor on more than one occasion. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to balance three jobs in order to get my shop functional. Someday perhaps… I did, however, say thanks by purchasing a stockman.

One thing that stuck with me was a method he called "full ivory overlay"

He mentions this method on his site although the picture he's chosen doesn't do the method justice as the underlay on the knife pictured is far thicker than what he showed me:

A slab of ivory is cushioned underneath with a layer of exotic hardwood. This not only gives additional character to a knife, it also gives stability to the expansion rate of the ivory. I have never had any cracks develop in the ivory using this method! Thinner layers of wood work too.

The knife Al showed me in person was a small single blade slip joint utilizing this method with Koa (his favorite wood as I recall). The veneer of Koa was only paper thin but still showed vibrant chatoyancy just under the creamy ivory scales.

Although I'm not sure it was entirely necessary as I do not fully understand the long term dynamics of Ivory, I trust that Al knows far more than me having worked with Ivory for years.

One thing is for certain and that it was one of the coolest things to behold on a knife and I wonder why other makers haven't done this? Imagine an ebony veneer under Ivory. Just saying…

 

[Clem Kadiddlehopper]

Back when my interest for making knives peaked I kindly asked a local knife smith named Al Warren to teach me his craft. Most here have probably heard of this sincerely kindhearted gentleman and know he makes a great slip joint to boot.

Mr. Warren was nice enough to invite me into his home/shop to assist my endeavor on more than one occasion. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to balance three jobs in order to get my shop functional. Someday perhaps… I did, however, say thanks by purchasing a stockman.

One thing that stuck with me was a method he called "full ivory overlay"

He mentions this method on his site although the picture he's chosen doesn't do the method justice as the underlay on the knife pictured is far thicker than what he showed me:



The knife Al showed me in person was a small single blade slip joint utilizing this method with Koa (his favorite wood as I recall). The veneer of Koa was only paper thin but still showed vibrant chatoyancy just under the creamy ivory scales.

Although I'm not sure it was entirely necessary as I do not fully understand the long term dynamics of Ivory, I trust that Al knows far more than me having worked with Ivory for years.

One thing is for certain and that it was one of the coolest things to behold on a knife and I wonder why other makers haven't done this? Imagine an ebony veneer under Ivory. Just saying…

This is very interesting - wonder why or how it works.
Like you said probably looks pretty good too?
I would like to see a knife like this.

 

[brownshoe]

At a knife show a maker told me he puts gold leaf behind thinner gold-lipped pearl slabs to give them more gold color. Another maker told me he puts a mirror polish on the stainless steel liners before putting on pearl slabs to give it more luster in direct light.

 

[wagglebee]

I've never heard about it with ivory, but Ken Erickson recently did this beautiful Bartender's Knife with gold leaf under antique tortoise shell.

 

[sierra11b]

Not sure exactly how it works but I imagine the wood acts as a shock absorber?

Al has a picture on his site but like I said before the picture he has shows very thick underlays of an old fixed blade. The underlays on the folder he showed me were paper thin, did not dominate the ivory overlays, but still showed enough chatoyancy if the wood possessed such a thing (the Koa did).

http://www.warrenknives.com/ivory & scrim info.htm

 

[sierra11b]

I've never heard of polishing the liners below pearl but that does make sense. As I recall goldleaf underlay is fairly standard practice under true tortoise shell as it highlights and complements the near translucent orange parts of the shell.

Because Ivory is a dense material and is opaque, the wood isn't seen through the scales, but imagine a dark outline on the white ivory when you look directly at the liners. It really makes it pop like a dark outline on a drawing -- the thinner the veneer the better. Plus, according to Mr. Warren, is totally functional.