Thread: Identifying Ivory

Isn't that the equivalent of unobtainium in steel?

Plus the unicorn has a horn, not a tooth growing out of its head. Horn stinks when you grind it to shape, or when it gets wet.

Theseus, you left out some of the whale teeth.

Ivory and bon are both cut very thin. A lot thinner than any of the plastic scales I've seen. If you'd got access to a strong magnifying glass or a jewellers loupe, have a look at them. Bone is pourous and you can see lots of very small holes in it. When bone scales are dirty, they look like they have black flecks on them. This is dirt in the hole. Under magnification, ivory has a clear grain to it. Also if you magnificatin is high enough, ivory looks to have little hair follicles in it.

I hope that helps.

Good info John.
What your seeing in bone (holes) is actually the vascular system (arterys and veins) as bone is/was, living tissue.
Ivory is not.

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Good info John.
What your seeing in bone (holes) is actually the vascular system (arterys and veins) as bone is/was, living tissue.
Ivory is not.

That is true - the amount of holes varies depending on how near the centre of the bone the scales were cut, but even a few patches of holes reveal the scale to be bone.

The holes carried the vascular system as Pixelfixed said, and also nerves. It is not possible to extract the organic reside of fine capillaries, etc, from the canal-like network that carries them, so bone is prepared before use by bleaching it to turn the ends of the remnants lighter and partially remove them at the very end. However, not all bone has been prepared sufficiently well, and this decaying organic matter oxidizes and turns black - kind of like 'blackheads' in peoples pores! So it isn't all due to dirt entering the holes, but partly due to the organic matter which is already present in them.

Regards,
Neil

Oh my Neil.
You have just opened another can of worms for the germophobes
Little do they realize that within thier precious 100 yr old bone scaled razors lurks blood and nerve residue.
A petrie dish ready to harbor and grow deadly bacteriums.

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Oh my Neil.
You have just opened another can of worms for the germophobes
Little do they realize that within thier precious 100 yr old bone scaled razors lurks blood and nerve residue.
A petrie dish ready to harbor and grow deadly bacteriums.

Dohhh - I won't mention oosik scales, then...

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

Dohhh - I won't mention oosik scales, then...

Um. You wouldn't happen to have seen any razors in oosik scales, would you? 'Cause that'd nicely round out my collection, it would.

Maybe a corn razor with baubellum scales...