first time ivory

[Hunter Bock]

My experience to date is with wood and micarta scales. Got some choice ivory for one set of scales but I'm hesitant to begin cutting as an ivory newbie.

I was wondering if I should craft a set of scales first with similiar qualities, perhaps bone. Suggestions as to material?

Thanks all.

 

[ajduplessis]

Ivory is a different beast to bone, but similar. Best is just to get going, slow, deliberate and carefully. Ivory can be very brittle but also needs to be thin, unless you want a really heavy razor. I like to use either wood or carbon fibre as liners making them more robust.

It’s stressful making scales from ivory, at least for me.

 

[Doc226]

It works the same as most hard woods or bone, cuts and sands easily and polishes nicely

 

[Rudy Vey]

I think it is much easier to work with than resins or many woods. It turns beautifully, sands easily and polishes to a perfect sheen. My favorite material for brushes, too bad it is no longer available. The only stress factor for me was that the piece spinning in front of me may have cost as much as $450 and any small mistake can have a bad (expensive...) result.

 

[Hunter Bock]

I think it is much easier to work with than resins or many woods. It turns beautifully, sands easily and polishes to a perfect sheen. My favorite material for brushes, too bad it is no longer available. The only stress factor for me was that the piece spinning in front of me may have cost as much as $450 and any small mistake can have a bad (expensive...) result.

exactly -- maybe I should have requested medication recommendations

 

[Ridgeback]

The only way is to jump in the deep end....I was making a Bog Oak and Musk Ox horn Brush handle ...I had $130 worth of material I Fubar!!!...Everyone has a "Pile O Shame"...Everything is a Learning experience.

 

[Mouette]

Just a bit of a warning regarding ivory - especially if you are planning on travelling and taking it with you. If you take it outside of the US, you will need a CITES certificate to get your razor with ivory scales back in. Other countries may also require you to have a CITES certificate also. I know that a lot of people travelling with musical instruments fitted with ivory have to do a lot of paperwork to be legal. Probably, best to check it out if you plan on travelling.
cheers
Andrew

 

[Legion]

Also, with ivory or bone, wear a good mask while you are working it. You don't want that in your lungs.

 

[Brianskeet]

Ivory is lovely to work with. I have made a few bits and bobs with it in the past. Its only peculiarities for me seem to be it demands strict control of the dust. The sweat from my hands would act like an adhesive and glue the dust into hard little bits that were then hard enough to scratch the surface I was working on. More frequent changing of the sandpaper and gloves to keep everything dry was all that was required. Work slow and keep everything cool and dry and it is pleasant to work with. Don't forget it will scorch easily so the use of any power tools even in polishing needs to be slow and don't sit in one place.

 

[Shangas]

Antique ivory razors were traditionally very very thin, so this could make it difficult to work with. As others have said, it can also be brittle.

If you're brave enough, you can just use the ivory as-is, but if you want to reinforce it somehow, I'd use something like thin liners made of brass or steel to give them a bit of extra strength. The results will be worth it!

 

[Doc226]

Ivory is great to work with. I’ve done dozens of them when ivory was available.

It is actually quite strong

IMO ivory should be thin and pinned sans washers (traditional)

It really works similar to horn or a hard wood.


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