Tortoise shell

A

Adam.b.phillips.89

Joined
Sep 16, 2013
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Has anyone had any experience with tortoise shell? It seems like it would be pretty straight forward to work with.....

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What you have pictured is not real tortoise shell. It's acrylic. Not hard to work, but chips easily when drilled.
Even real tortoise shell isn't tortoise shell-it's from sea turtles.
 
As Bill said, that is a piece of plastic. Work it cool, saw slowly with a very fine tooth blade, sand it wet, buff it gently.
 
You CAN'T get real tortoise shell. Its illegal. Its even illegal to remove it from something old and re-use it. Be very careful with some of the more exotic materials. Be absolutely sure its legal or you can go to jail. There were some makers who went to jail just a few months ago. Google the marine mammals protection act for more info.. You can also google CITES and the Lacey act.
 
If going thinish with your handles, I have seen others go with a yellow liner to brighten the yellow areas in the handle material.
 
Using tortoise shell can win you some jail time unless it's over 100 years old (the handle scales not the tortoise)
 
darrin sanders said:
You CAN'T get real tortoise shell. Its illegal. Its even illegal to remove it from something old and re-use it. Be very careful with some of the more exotic materials. Be absolutely sure its legal or you can go to jail. There were some makers who went to jail just a few months ago. Google the marine mammals protection act for more info.. You can also google CITES and the Lacey act.
Click to expand...

The Goverment has Zero sense of humor about anything on the marine mammals Act 1972. Whale teeth, bones, Seal fur,etc
If you are found any parts, from any of these animals you will be bunking with Bubba in a Federal prison.:eek:

All that said, The synthetics actually work fine and will last longer exposed to hands etc.. Tape the underside before drilling and work as Bladsmth has advised.
 
Rhinoknives1 said:
The Goverment has Zero sense of humor about anything on the marine mammals Act 1972. Whale teeth, bones, Seal fur,etc
If you are found any parts, from any of these animals you will be bunking with Bubba in a Federal prison.:eek:

.........
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I'm sorry, but you are wrong. It is illegal to harvest these items, import/export them from many countries, and illegal to transport them across some state lines in the US, but having them in your possession is not going to automatically get you thrown in federal prison. Some states ( California particularly) have very strict State laws about ivories and other items, and the items can be confiscated. Steep fines are levied in a few states if you are caught selling these items. The only way to get jail time is to violate the import/export/sales parts of the MMA and CITES.

The best defense against problems is to know the laws of your state and any state you plan on taking your knives to. Keeping paperwork with the knives is a really smart think. If an agent asks about a knife handle at a show, merely show him the papers that you have stating the ivory is from pre-ban elephant, or that it is mammoth, etc.
Whales teeth are completely legal to buy and sell in some states.....and not in others.
 
bladsmth said:
I'm sorry, but you are wrong. It is illegal to harvest these items, import/export them from many countries, and illegal to transport them across some state lines in the US, but having them in your possession is not going to automatically get you thrown in federal prison. Some states ( California particularly) have very strict State laws about ivories and other items, and the items can be confiscated. Steep fines are levied in a few states if you are caught selling these items. The only way to get jail time is to violate the import/export/sales parts of the MMA and CITES.

The best defense against problems is to know the laws of your state and any state you plan on taking your knives to. Keeping paperwork with the knives is a really smart think. If an agent asks about a knife handle at a show, merely show him the papers that you have stating the ivory is from pre-ban elephant, or that it is mammoth, etc.
Whales teeth are completely legal to buy and sell in some states.....and not in others.
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Stacy,
Rereading my post I didn't state things very clearly and for that I apologize.

Let me put it this way.
I suggest to the OP and anyone else to check out these laws regarding Protected Animals and all of the different things it covers. With the current administration that we have I ask you to look at what happened to Gibson Guitar over "wood" that they had already imported into the USA costing them over a MILLION $$ With no real charges ever?

I personally like feeling the wind on my face too much to screw around with any of it and I would never use Elephant or Rhino parts because I think it's ridiculous that these animals are being slaughtered to the point of extinction just for their teeth and horns.

But If you or anyone else wants to test the laws on Tortoise, Whale Ivory, Elephant Ivory etc. or anything else that you mentioned?
I promise that I will send you a post card if things go south and you end up in trouble and the people that arrest you really don't have a clear charge of what you are in trouble for other than "Protected Animals" OK?
 
I figured you were being figurative, not literal.
No one should use tortoise shell, period.
Ivories need proper papers and ivory laws knowledge.
Big companies are at many times the risk in these matters than a small time knifemaker. They are under inspection and observation, and have to regularly supply paperwork to the various Govt. depts. that regulate commerce.

Just to clarify one detail - if you are referring to the imported wood case last year concerning Gibson guitar Co. ..... they admitted illegally importing the wood after they got caught. They agreed to a huge fine in return for no legal charges. They paid a $300,000 fine and forfeited about $250,000 in wood that had been seized by the F&W agents. People who deliberately break these laws deserve punishment. ( I have a big problem with rich companies and ultra-wealthy people getting away with crimes because they can just pay enough money to make it go away,...... but that rant is for another thread :) )
 
Stacy,

I may be wrong, but I remember reading about this case when it happened, and I remember thinking that Gibson was basically "extorted" by the the Fed Govt. Without getting into the "political arena", I'm pretty sure they had legitimately imported the wood under their understanding of the existing statues involving "raw" material vs "worked" material.

The govt confiscated the items in question and threatened criminal prosecution, and Gibson basically paid the fine to avoid a VERY expensive legal fight. On a macro level, this echoes what happened to a bunch of the European makers before the Boston Art SHow a few years ago on the micro level - they had their knives confiscated
before the show based on very questionable Customs "violations"

Bill
 
billf said:
Stacy,

I may be wrong, but I remember reading about this case when it happened, and I remember thinking that Gibson was basically "extorted" by the the Fed Govt. Without getting into the "political arena", I'm pretty sure they had legitimately imported the wood under their understanding of the existing statues involving "raw" material vs "worked" material.

The govt confiscated the items in question and threatened criminal prosecution, and Gibson basically paid the fine to avoid a VERY expensive legal fight. On a macro level, this echoes what happened to a bunch of the European makers before the Boston Art SHow a few years ago on the micro level - they had their knives confiscated
before the show based on very questionable Customs "violations"

Bill
Click to expand...

That was my understanding of the Gibson incident? I am not a Lawyer.

As far as that incident at that Boston knife show , I think we will be seeing more of those kinds of things rather less and I stick to mostly domestic grown woods, some stabilized and some cool synthetics like Kirinite for my knife handles.

I live in California and its $1000-$5000 fine or 6 months with Bubba or both for selling or buying Hawk Bill Sea Turtle shell otherwise known as Tortoise shell. Penal code 6530.
No thank you.
 
There were TWO Gibson raids and confiscations. Gibson owned up to illegal wood in the first as Stacy said and the second raid is still being settled as what is what. Seems some papers were mistakeed by the importer, but not with Gibson's knowledge (far as is known). This involved a shipment of East Indian rosewood boards.
 
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