Thread: How to tell Bone from Ivory?

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