mammoth bone bark

R

rlinger

Joined
Mar 29, 2002
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I recently received a piece of mammoth bone from Alaska. The bark is rather scalie. It flakes off easily if not handled very carefully. Should I work the surface down or should I try to seal the bark as it is with a bonding agent such as super glue. etc. or whatever?

Thanks; RL
 
It always helps when you can see the item at hand. However, unless the bark has real nice color that doesn't run into the piece it is better to work it down past the flaky layers. If you really want the bark color and texture you will probably need to get it stabilized.
 
Andrew,

I think your answer is what I need. The loose bark is not colorful but brown without much deviation. As I look at the profile of the piece (where it was sawed) I see layers of mineral discolorization throughout. It will be a little while before I use this piece and if I receive no other post warning me otherwise I will work the surface scale down, on an as I need it basis. I may be able to get two sets of hunter size knife scales out of it.

Thanks; Roger
 
I have worked with exactly one set of mammoth scales so take this for what it's worth. The set I had is much as you describe yours to be. The top layers were a dull crummy looking brown. Nothing to lose really, so I slack belt sanded using a 120, then a 240 grit belt until I got some good color to show up. Then using Norax belts down to x16 with some buffing using white compound to follow that, it cleaned up ok and has a good shine. I did take my time, using sharp belts, to keep the heat down. The scales still aren't great looking but they are much better than they were. Next time I will hand sand for better control of the color and striations as it comes to the top. Buffing with 600 then 1200 grit Jackson white compound shined it up nicely.
 
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