Preparing to cut Walrus tusk

thartman

thartman

Joined
Apr 4, 2010
Messages
251
I'm going to slab a beach walrus tusk and have been reading about methods others use. So far I have read to glue the tusk to a board and run the board against the fence of the band saw. I have a 64 1/2" metal cutting band saw would it be appropriate for this task? Is a new band saw blade necessary? When I glue the tusk to the board which adhesive should be used, epoxy, wood glue, super glue? Also to get a good connection to the board I plan to cut one side of the tusk flat. Since the width of the tusk changes the boards edge needs to mimic the change in the tusks width, in order to keep the blade in the center of the tusk? I have read to run the blade as if I'm cutting steel and to go slow and easy. Is this a good approach. I'll only get one shot to get this right so any tips would be appreciated. Is stabilizing the scales recommended?

Thanks
Tim
 
Best method is to cut the tusk into sections the length of the desired scales. Glue each section on a board or piece of plywood. Mark the center of the wood parallel to the long edge and center the tusk on that line. No need to flatten the bottom unless you want to grind a small reference flat. Glue it on with 5 minute epoxy and let it cure overnight. Build up glue ogees if needed.
A 10TPI blade will cut it just fine. A new and sharp bi-metal blade is a good idea.
Start with the least important section, and progress up to the best piece. That way any minor errors in the learning curve are on the least valuable pieces.
 
The Piece is a 6.5 inch section of a tusk. That is between 1.850 " and 2" wide and is 1.347" and 1.188" thick.

Thanks for the 5 minute epoxy info and how to center it on the board. I can now visualize what I need to do.
 
Be careful to not heat the ivory too much. I would saw it manually no matter how long it takes, but that requires a certain amount of skill with hand saws you may not have.

With rare tusks and ivories, I'm not all that keen on power tools in general because of how much damage can be done with one little slip. If that was my piece of walrus, no way would I saw it by machine. But that's just me. I hand sawed an ivory slab for 2 days just to make sure it was done right.
 
The metal cutting band saw is more than slow enough to avoid any heat problems. I saw walrus, elephant, and fossil ivories on it regularly. Fresh and sharp blades are important.
 
I completed the cutting of the Walrus tusk section, it Cut like a charm. Attaching the tusk to a flat board with epoxy and using the metal cutting band saw could not of worked out better. it was slow going, it took 35 minutes to cut 6 inches but it never got hot and the result was a very clean cut. The interior has a unique look very different from other ivories I've worked with. Since the finished knife will be going to a much more humid environment I'm planning on having the slabs stabilized. Stacy your information was invaluable, Thanks again.

Tim
 
From the sound of your cutting time, the tusk is probably fairly mineralized ( fossilized). It probably won't need or take stabilizing. Personally, I have never seen the need to stabilize walrus. Walrus is very dense, and the tapioca core is really attractive in fossil walrus. Some photos would be good.
 
Walrus Tusk cyt slab 2.jpg Here is an image of the cut slab still attached to the board.
 

Attachments

  • Walrus tusk cut slab 3.jpg
    Walrus tusk cut slab 3.jpg
    63.9 KB · Views: 25
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top