Ivory scales

[dcmeckel]

I recently had a small every-day user sheath knife made.I supplied the maker with a pair of ivory scales,and do they ever look good!Well it seems one side may be lifting a bit,or maybe it was just put on that way.Has anyone out there had much experience with ivory,and if so does ivory "curl up" or expand and contract with changes in humidity? Thank you for any advice you can offer.
David

[Lin Rhea]

Yes, if it is not stabilized, it will certainly move. The older it is, the more like it wont, but when it comes to such valued material, I would have it stabilized. Some scoff at the idea of stabilizing ivory, but some pretty knowledgable makers believe it helps.

[dcmeckel]

Thank you Lin for the advice,is it too late to stabilize it since it is on a knife?

[Lin Rhea]

Yes, too late, but you can let it soak in mineral oil (wont hurt the rest of the knife) over night about once every few months to help it stay in reasonable shape. This also could undo some of the warping.

[kbaknife]

The maker may have induced his own stresses into the pieces during his creation process.
Might have got them hot - not good.
Might not have been flat and tried to PIN them flat and they didn't like it!
Lots of possible reasons, and you may never find out.
Lin's advice is always excellent and should be heeded in the future.
Choose your makers well, especially when it comes to high dollar materials and processes.

[Ray Hammond]

I've only used really old, well seasoned walrus and some 60 year old hippo. I kept a bucket of ice water handy, and never ran it more than a few seconds without dunking it in the cold water bath...heating ivory is bad news any way you cut it, if you'll pardon the pun.

To tell you how bad ivory is about splitting, curling, etc. - when a hunter takes a hippo the first thing they do is wrap the tusks in duct tape and KEEP them wrapped- if you don't, they'll split in half and curl like a dried banana peel.  

Elephant tusks are also treated with a band near the base to avoid splitting as it dries like seasoned wood.

They both worked well without stabilization, though when I do more it WILL be stabilized. It's just too expensive and rare a material to take those unnecessary chances with.

[tippit]

Well I guess I'm lucky, I have a friend who has 3 shopping bags of old pre-ban cut slabs of elephant ivory.  It is part of his business.  He wanted a knife made.  So for enough slabs for kniives for my son, son-in-law, and two for me...that was a no brainer.  I got to pick what I needed...no cracks, splits, and flat     tippit

[skullworks]

I use a lot of mammoth ivory and haven't had a problem with any of it. Sometimes I'll hit interior cracks and voids that have to be filled.