Thread: How to tell Bone from Ivory?

Nice razor my friend

This is the razor mentioned by pixelfixed earlier. The photo is from the owner. It shows the detail in the ivory scale pretty well.

Some more (vintage) ivory scaled razors to show a bit of variation in the markings:





Some have hardly any striations at all. In one, the lighter mottlings were almost see-through. I think the patterning depends on how close to the inside core the of the tusk the scale comes from.

Regards,
Neil

Actually the intense patterns are from the outermost section of the tusk,The lines only go about 1/2 deep,after that the are gone.
See if I can find a pic.

The sheregar Lines are where the striations come from,toward the center of the tusk they disapear.

From what I have read, there are inner clusters of shreger lines, too, though less pronounced than those at the outer edges and at a different angle. I suppose the pattern you get really depends on how the tusk is converted. Perhaps there is a similarity to how timber is converted into planks - it woul not be cost-efficient to just cross-saw right through the timber, so quarter-sawing is used too - quarter-sawn oak is very nicely figured, if I recall correctly, but the pattern is hidden in other saw cuts.

A diagram I saw of a log had four sections of planking sawn out, making out the shape of a cross, then the saw was turned at 45 degrees and the quarter-sawn planks were taken - these, unlike the cross sections, were of variable width, of course.

An old Sheffiled booklet where an American visits the ivory room tells us that in all there where eight qualities of ivory taken from each tusk, the yellowish ivory nearer the core being the most valuable.

Regards,
Neil

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

Some more (vintage) ivory scaled razors to show a bit of variation in the markings:





Some have hardly any striations at all. In one, the lighter mottlings were almost see-through. I think the patterning depends on how close to the inside core the of the tusk the scale comes from.

Regards,
Neil

Wow, the patterning in that first picture, Neil.

Just... wow.

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

The sheregar Lines are where the striations come from,toward the center of the tusk they disapear.

Interesting! So the striations are strongest near the enamel layer.

Originally Posted by Voidmonster

Wow, the patterning in that first picture, Neil.

Just... wow.



Interesting! So the striations are strongest near the enamel layer.

Correct,The center sections have no lines,most is sold for scrap,Is still ivory but rather bland.

These elephant tusks certainly look like they contain figuration right down to the centre:



The area below the shreger lines is referred to as The Lines of Owen, so I suppose that in some examples that is patterned too.

Regards,
Neil