KC and mammoth tooth handles

Demonic1

Demonic1

Joined
Feb 18, 2008
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I was going over the slideshow of pics from KC- Dang you William.M! ;)
I saw there were some NMSFNOs with mammoth tooth handles.

Are the mammoth tooth and the wood handles rounded, flat slabs, hand-shaped?

Thanks.

P.S. Whoever scored the NMSFNO with black mammoth tooth and red mosiac pins was one lucky Hog.
 
All the ones I have had or handled where hand shaped and rounded nicely.
 
Anyone know how they get such a variance in colors on those Mammoth Tooth handles. Is it dyed somehow, or are the color variances simply natural?

(Didn't mean to hijack your thread Demonic, just curious and didn't feel this question warranted a new thread....;))
 
lsheldon said:
Anyone know how they get such a variance in colors on those Mammoth Tooth handles. Is it dyed somehow, or are the color variances simply natural?

(Didn't mean to hijack your thread Demonic, just curious and didn't feel this question warranted a new thread....;))
Click to expand...

Black Mammoth have Black Teeth so you have to find the remains of one of those colors. The Red and Blue Mammoths are much more common =)

LOL, no, they are all dyed.
 
no problem- that was my next question:)

Anyone have pics of what these look like from the top?
It looks like the mammoth tooth ones were G-rexed. Is this common- or special to bigger blades because of the larger handles?

(I hope I'm using "G-rexed" correctly. I wasn't sure if it applied just to micarta/ G10 handles or all handles where there's an under layer of G10- with another grip material on top)
 
I thought the term G-Rex was used for handles that combined two different types of material, with one material being G10 and the other something else. Like G10/Bone, G10/Mammoth, G10/Wood, etc. (And I suppose one of the "other" materials could be Macarta, I.E., G10/Micarta). I don't think it is only in relation to Micarta/G10, it would include all of the possible combinations. Like this AD from the Busse website which is G10/Stabalized ASH,

activedutydblcutturqwood.jpg


Or even two different types of G10,

meanstreetg-rexG-10.jpg
 
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I would still like to hear from someone who works with Mammoth Tooth as a maker. I was under the impression that the colors in the Mammoth Tooth depended on the minerals found in the soil the fossil was deposited into.

I really can't see them being able to dye fossilized tooth to give it the incredible range of colors you see.
 
lsheldon said:
I would still like to hear from someone who works with Mammoth Tooth as a maker. I was under the impression that the colors in the Mammoth Tooth depended on the minerals found in the soil the fossil was deposited into.

I really can't see them being able to dye fossilized tooth to give it the incredible range of colors you see.
Click to expand...

My word isn't good enough? :D
It's true, I don't make up stuff and I know my mammoth tooth... But you can wait for others to back up my word if you want...
Two people that works with mammoth tooth that I talk to and can back me is Garth and George...
 
Mammoth tooth is a stabilized material, meaning resin is injected via vacuum force into the empty pockets and tubes present in the material. Anything that can be stabilized can be dyed.
 
This is gonna sound like sacrilege-
How durable is Mammoth tooth? I know the giraffe bone and the stabilized woods Busse uses are user-worthy, if you can bring yourself to use them, but how does mammoth rank?

I see more Green & Blue than Red or black colors. Does the dye process bring out colors that are already there, or can we expect to see orange or yellow slabs?

And where do they find all these teeth to use? (Mammoth dentist?)
 
"Siberian mammoth teeth from thawed and formerly FROZEN tundra are NOT stone and are NOT petrified. They are organic and water-logged when collected just like North Sea teeth.) "
from
http://www.paleodirect.com/pgset2/lm8-097.htm

If that is the case, bone is pretty porous. With a good stabilization it will probably be strong enough for heavy use (a bone structure reinforced hunk of hardened acrylic polymer). I'd love to hear garth or someone from the company comment, as the immediate google searches are coming up kind unhelpful.

regarding stabilization:
http://www.woodstabilization.com/stabilization.php
 
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Demonic1 said:
This is gonna sound like sacrilege-
How durable is Mammoth tooth? I know the giraffe bone and the stabilized woods Busse uses are user-worthy, if you can bring yourself to use them, but how does mammoth rank?
Click to expand...

Dont drop it:thumbup:
 
Errr..... so pretty but breakable if dropped?
Those are some gorgeous handles Dan. Thanks!
 
Yea, Mammoth Tooth Handles are made to be collected. I wouldn't use it, it can break and crack just like coral. The material that is a lot more sturdy is your bone and horn. Also nice but expensive are the Elephant Ivory and Mammoth Ivory.
 
My biggest concern with the mammoth tooth material is the striation of super dense bone and less-dense bone. The whole idea is that the softer bone (that takes up the dye) wears away faster then the harder denser bone (the clear lines) creating a washboard surface for grinding up plant matter. The dyed portion I have no worry about, it is porous and takes up the acrylic polymer and thus should be strong and durable. The part I do worry about is the strength of those clear denser lines, and the strength of the bond between the two bone types.
 
Essentially what I'm getting out of this handle material discussion is:

If I want it usable with handshaped handles I need to go G10 or Micarta.

If I want it usable and pretty, but only with rounded or flat slabs- Ivory, wood, giraffe bone.

If I just want it to be pretty - use mammoth tooth.

Does this sound correct?
 
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