Ivory Handle Beauty Contest

[Kevin Jones]

I'd like to show some pics of my friend Antonio Montejano whose style I really like and he never stops
surprising me.

Antonio, has posted some of his work here before. His engraving is nothing short of amazing. Of course the Ivory isn't bad either, if you can take your eyes off the engraving long enough to notice it.

Joe, I always think your photos are pretty good, until you post Coop's.

 

[Kevin Jones]

Here's a couple more Fisk Ivory:

 

[The Savage Rabbit]

When do we start voting?

 

[Kevin Jones]

Let's get a few more photos then I will post a top ten pole to vote for
the "BF Ivory Beauty"

There's a few Hancock beauties I'm surprised we haven’t seen

 

[Keith Montgomery]

I like this one in old elephant ivory.

 

[ptgdvc]

Here is a contender from Kevin Cashen,MS

And some Walrus from John Fitch, MS

And some Elephant from Terry Primos

And some more Elephant from Harvey Dean, MS

And some more Elephant from Tim Hancock, MS

And some more elephant from Jerry Fisk, MS

And a bit more from Harvey Dean, MS

Another peak at this cavity from Don Hanson III

 

[Kevin Jones]

Another great Hancock:

 

[Murray White]

Brian Lyttle

Michael Sanders

Josef Rusnak

another by Josef

Frank Niro -- mammoth tooth

Aaron Fredericks -- walrus

John White -- carmel Mammoth

Craig Cammerer

 

[SharpByCoop]

Let them all claim the beauty prize! :thumbup:

I've held off until now. My own two faves:

Thanks for the post!

Coop

 

[Don Cowles]

I have the Montejano pieces shown above in my posession. They will be on display at my table at the Blade Show in June.

 

[RogerP]

Let's get a few more photos then I will post a top ten pole to vote for
the "BF Ivory Beauty"

There's a few Hancock beauties I'm surprised we haven’t seen

Will we be voting for the best piece(s) of ivory - as we did with the "best stag" thread, or the best ivory-handled knife?

Roger

 

[T.K.C.]

Wow, those are all exsquisite knives!! I LOVE that Loveless sub-hilt and some many of the others.

 

[Kevin Jones]

Will we be voting for the best piece(s) of ivory - as we did with the "best stag" thread, or the best ivory-handled knife?

Roger

I see this as a part 2 of the "best stag" thread. So it's all about the Ivory.

Perhaps a Best Damascus in the future?

 

[maxmm]

This is my absolute favorite "patterned" type of ivory. One of the first knives posted had a similar piece.
Barry Davis
Fossil Walsrus Ivory
picture courtesy of KnifeLegends

But actually I much prefer the clean, smooth look of Pre-ban Elephant or a nice carmel-colored Fossil Mammoth, over any of the busy-looking bark stuff.
Walter Brend's WHITE KNIGHT
Pre-ban Elephant Ivory
picture courtesy of BladeArt

 

[A C Richards]

Here's one i did couple of years ago. Mastadon Ivory blued bolsters and 350 layer ladder 1095-15n20 blade.

Then there is this one .

San Mai Damascus Mastadon Ivory and Blued fittings

Hope you enjoy

Chuck

 

[RogerP]

But actually I much prefer the clean, smooth look of Pre-ban Elephant or a nice carmel-colored Fossil Mammoth, over any of the busy-looking bark stuff.[/b]

I like the look of the white stuff as well, but the difficulty with those pieces for the purposes of this poll is that one really good piece of elephant ivory or white mammoth looks much like any other good piece of the same material, so on what basis does one express a preference for one piece over another? Take the excellent knives posted by Peter (above) by Primos, Dean, Hancock and Fisk. I love the look of all of them. But I would have no reason to say that one piece of ivory is better than the other, because there isn't any meaningful way to discern that one piece of ivory is different from the other (at least, not from photos alone).

Each "busy looking bark piece" is at least distinguishable from another.

Roger

 

[jdm61]

The mammoth handles are only a small part of a truly amazing knife by John. There is a whole lot more going on with this knife then the picture shows. The knife has gone back to John for his Master Smith testing in Atlanta. Ive also managed to snag John`s MS test- Quillon Dagger. John says its his finest knife to date. A photo project is planned for both knives and will be shared on the Forum. I can hardly wait to have the knives in hand.
Paul

Ah......thqt must be the "explosion" pattern dagger that i saw this weekend at Batsons. VERY impressive piece.:thumbup:

 

[ptgdvc]

Roger,

I think you are right on target about the elephant ivory. It is superb in person, but truthfully old linen micarta looks better in a photograph. The only piece of elephant that stands out from the herd, in a photo, is the sculpted ivory handle by Don Hanson III.

P

 

[maxmm]

All this time I thought I loved the look of white ivory because it was an elegant, yet understated and incredibly complementary looking knife-handle material. I've learned my lesson tho. For ivory to be "beautiful" and "stand out" on a knife, it has to be loud and garish!

In all seriousness, am I the only one that finds fossil mammoth tooth to be the ugliest flavor-of-the-month handle material since leopard skin fibermascus? Everytime I see the stuff on a knife I get an intense urge to break out the Colgate and give the handle a good cleaning.

EDIT: without hte sarcasm, my point is simply that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and what we are stating are opinions, and its silly to categorically deny or argue someone elses idea of beauty. Vote yes, argue no.

 

[Joss]

In all seriousness, am I the only one that finds fossil mammoth tooth to be the ugliest flavor-of-the-month handle material since leopard skin fibermascus?

I completely agree with you.