bonehead11

It looks like what you have there is a section of "bark" the rough outer layer of the tusk. I have worked some of this in my jewelery and it is rather fragile. If you get a little deeper into the tusk it is a lot better working ivory but the bark will need some sort of stabilization. Since most of pieces were small I never bothered so I have no suggestions for stabilization.

I think you are right, when I first got it the layers were seperating by 1/8 inch at least so I applied epoxy and clamped it overnight then gound and sanded and polished to shape, great so far , but as soon as I drilled a whole the thin outer decorative layer began to shatter, it is very brittle,I repaired it and decided it would have to be used or my own projects and not sold and left it for another day. considering all it has been through I thought a tough coating of resin might save the day.just an idea
kevin benge

Bonehead, your wife is a saint!

you don't know the half of it, she is an angel

Good luck. I'd say that putting the vacuum caster to work on this project would probably be a good idea. The pros say that they use acrylic resin: Wood Stabilizing Specialists, Int'l., LLC | Info, Hints, & Tips! I'm sure it'll need to be thinned.

thanks matt that's what I was looking for

thanks rich, I think the legal part comes in if you are selling it over state lines or federal , I am not sure but I am not selling it anyway, I made a set of grips for my gold plated 9mm out of some of it and grips for my .45 out of the rest.
but since I switched to doing a rose engraving for this project I will have to adopt those grips to this knife. and maybe scrimshawed. Someone said that mammoth ivory was becoming hard to get and I wonder if that is true, I still picture all those Alaskans with their ivory piles in their back yard.

Staff note: In the USA and many other countries, simple possession of Ivory is a serious violation, without the proper papers don't even have it in your shop.

you and rich are probably right but I have been out of work for over a year so sending it out is out of the guestion, and most of my adventures have been about learning new things. that is a great idea to use vacumn, I have a vacumn casting machine too!
I had bought this ivory at a flea market in s.f. about 10 years ago, along with some elephant ivory and one walrus tusk,I paid $130 for the wooly ivory and to me ot is worth the risk.
I had checked, back then with an ivory seller (in the back of a gun magazine) who lived in alaska and he acted as though every alaskan had a pile of ivory in his back yard. Is it really so hard to come by?

I am making a knife for my wife's b'day, (I suggested a wolly mammoth engraving, she wanted roses, to show how sweet she is she agreed to the wooly mammoth design) which led me to change my unfinished 45. colt grips to her knife grips.Anyway to make a long story longer It started to feel more like my knife then her's so I am doing the roses.
Finally my question, this ivory is very fragile, ou may see in the pic I have already repaired it, I have heard of stabilized mammoth ivory, I am guessing/thinking of dipping it in clear epoxy resin.
Any ideas/suggestions
thanks in advance
kevin(bonehead11)benge

I should introduce myself , I am a diesel mechanic by trade, a leather/ silversmith/ gun engraver hobbiest/ dreamer/ bonehead.
35 years ago I wanted to try blacksmithing and read every book I could find and tracked down an old peter wright anvil in s.s.f., calif. and carried it around in the back of my pickup for a year or two, never landing in a place to start a forge.
A month ago I found a trenton anvil and forge here in clearlake ,calif. and ruined my first railroad spike, that is I hit it too hard too late, but I am as happy as I can be none the less!
I have forgotten all I learned 35 years ago and read your site often and enjoy it greatly, thanks to all

here are some pics of the forge, anvil and spike