mammoth tooth handle

[paintitred]

this would be my first attempt at this type of scale what do i need to know? best way to attach,shape and finish? any help would be much appriecated.thanks

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Mammoth tooth is extremely brittle.
Use sharp drills and low pressure to drill.
Use fresh belts and don't let it get hot when grinding.
Stacy

 

[Redrummd]

Brittle stuff as it is a tooth that has been buried for 10,000 or more years.... I would use Loctite 325 to attach it to the knife.

 

[Frank Niro]

I recommend you attach it to liner material before you start if they are scales. Frank

 

[paintitred]

thank guys for the info. would drilling it be better with a diamond bit be better or would the friction get it to hot? i m glad you guys are around and nice enough to answer or there would have been some pretty expensive broken mammoth teeth

 

[sculver]

would drilling it be better with a diamond bit be better or would the friction get it to hot

Place your pins to avoid drilling through the white streaks of material. I think it is tooth enamel and it is HARD. You can drill through the softer areas (the dentine) with any good drill bit.

I once made a mortised tang handle out of mammoth tooth. It typically takes me about 20 minutes to mill the mortises in a set of handle slabs. It took me over three hours to mortise the mammoth tooth slabs. Every time the end mill hit one of the enamel streaks, the end mill would start squealing and could barely cut the material. I don’t think that I would have got the job done without using a carbide end mill.

You also want to be careful sanding mammoth tooth. Because there are hard and soft areas in it, you can wind up with a wavy surface. Grind against a platten or wheel, and use a block when hand sanding.

Good Luck!!

 

[koyote]

Brittle stuff as it is a tooth that has been buried for 10,000 or more years.... I would use Loctite 325 to attach it to the knife.

The 330 is pretty good stuff- I've been experimenting with it. Seems to do well with porous and gappy materials.