Thread: Some ancient tusk arrives

Originally Posted by Leatherstockiings

Beautiful scales Neep! I have admired that model for awhile now.

Pixelfixed, what makes mammoth ivory hard to work? Hardness?

I have a friend that claims to have eaten mammoth meat. He found it as it emerged from an eroding stream bank in Alaska. Apparently it gave him the runs.

Is full of inclusions,checks and cracks,hard to get solid pieces from a tusk IME

Mammoth ivory is actually quite soft to work with, and a dream to polish.



The main problem is finding pieces without cracks and flaws, which need to be stabilised. Much of the stuff is what they call "bark" mammoth, which shows a lot of outer layer discoloration. It also warps if just left as a "scale blank". That's why Dovo put a thin liner on the inside of the scales and also seal it. I was fortunate with my knife scales that the inside was pure ivory, and I left a little of the "bark" showing for added interest.

The bark is the most highly prized and expensive because it has the mineralization in it.

I have one of those Dovo's. It's a great shaver but not one of my favorites. I got mine on eboy for a steal.

I find the balance of the razor terrible and thought the finishing of the scales were sub-par and scale matching so-so and the little mammut on the blade cartoonish.

Nice, I like the character in the scales. Something about that vs. pure white like ivory.

Beautiful razor and knife, love the character in the ivory, Enjoy!

Well I love razors ..... and pocketknives, especially Case pocketknives, and I love ivory and especially mammoth ivory. Great pix of great stuff. Thanks for the thread !

The razor does look pretty cool with those scales.
It would have been interesting if they had shaped them to look like two Mammoth Tasks

I think ivory is beautiful. But what is more beautiful is the elephant and the more I learn about these animals the more I believe they are the most beautiful creatures that have walked the earth. So mammoth ivory gets around the conflicting feelings that I have about elephant ivory. Sure, there is some clean ivory, but so much is not. As a boy I dreamed of going to Africa to hunt big game. Now, if I hunted in Africa, I would join a safari to hunt ivory poachers.

Whereabouts in Gloucestershire are you, I spent 10 yrs in cirencester or zoirenzester should I say.

Cinderford. Not too far from Cirencester as the crow flies, but about 35 miles by road, because there is water in the way