Working with real ivory questions

[M-Tecs]

I have enough ivory blanks to do about 6 sets of handgun grips. I have never worked with ivory. I finally have time to start. Any advice or pointers on working with ivory?

[John in WYO]

Elephant �� Ivory?

[M-Tecs]

Not sure. It's from an old smith that retired in the 70's and passed away in the 80's.

[waksupi]

Wear a respirator, don't get it over heated.

[GhostHawk]

Yep keep it cool, if sanding/grinding keep cooling it. Or you could discolor a patch.

Patience.

Lay your work out with pencil and be sure before you start.

[contender1]

Before I ever work with a new project,,, especially with an unknown factor involved,, I use cheaper materials to "learn" with. When I started making my own grips,, I started with a few pieces of plain walnut,,, and then tried cedar. (Hard & soft materials.) Once I had made about 6-7 sets of grips,, and made all my mistakes & figured out the best way to do things,,, I then moved to American Holly.
With ivory,, as noted,,, go slow, use a respirator, and do not let it get hot.

[waksupi]

Once they are done, I recommend lard or other natural animal fats to help prevent cracking.

[2152hq]

Ivory works very nicely. Use new or very sharp like new files to cut and shape it. Dull files are a waste of time on it. It cuts smoothly and though it does have a grain structure, the direction of your cuts during shaping generally have little effect on the surface finish left behind unlike wood can do.
It;s not brittle like pearl and the dust from working with it isn't nearly as hazardous as pearl. But protect yourself as you would doing any finishing work involving dust.
After shaping it out with simple files, I go to sandpaper,,usually garnet sand paper to start removing the file marks and refining the shape.
I don't like to use any of the wet/dry paper especially the black auto finishing papers as the black color of the paper/grit can become imbedded in the grain of the ivory while working it and you can't get it back out.

It sands and shapes easily removing any file marks starting w/ 180grit or even 220 depending on how fine the files were you used to initially shape. Then progress down to what ever grit you feel comfortable with. Back the sanding operations(s) as you would normally do if working with wood to keep flat surfaces in tact and be careful around edges and rounded surfaces. Grips are small but have a lot of complicated shape to them especially revolver grips.
Take your time and check the surfaces from different angles to reveal any sanding or file cuts you missed.
When I get to 400 or 600 grit, I switch over to a very light polishing with scotchbrite. I use the maroon and then the grey colored pads (I don't know what actual grit they are supposed to be). They even out the sanding operation scratches nicely.
One more easy burnishing with 0000 steel wool after that and then a real close look for imperfections in the surface.
All this time be carefull of rounding corners. Working on the grips while they are still attached to the pistols frame is the best way but not always possible.

All this previous work is done w/o power tools. No grinders, dremels, ect.
They all work but they generate heat in doing so and heat is the biggest enemy of the ivory. Overheated while being worked, it can develope cracks right before your eyes. They do not close back up as the ivory cools!
Yes you can use power tools successfully and those that do this all the time do. But they understand what the limits are and use cutters that run cooler (coarse) and know the speeds and cutting feeds that work best w/o damage.

With all that said about power tools,,the very last operation I do after the above is to very lightly buff the grips on a loose wheel w/a white polishing compound.. This puts the high polish on the surface. No bearing down (heat again),,just a very light few strokes over the surfaces will brighten them up to where you want them. It'll also show up any imperfections quickly that you can go back and take care of and them and then repolish. Don't try to remove imperfections w/the buffing wheel,,just as in polishing metal, the buffer will create a rippled surface,,the sure sign of a amateur and not what you want after all your prior hard work.

This last buffing step can also be done by simply hand polishing the ivory with a very fine polish on a cloth. Takes a bit more time but the results are the same and no need for the equipment.

I wax the grips after completion inside and out and have never had a problem with them. I've made ivory grips for engraved guns on and off since the 70's. A bath in baby oil is often recommended but I've never seen the need for that. Ivory is porus, though not as much as apiece of wood. It will stain and it will absorb dyes so keep magic markers and the like away from them. They are nearly impossible to remove the stains once applied w/o resanding and polishing.
Ivory also absorbs moisture from the air. You want that,,that keeps it from cracking.
But like wood, how the ivory was cut and dried when originally taken has much to do with how it stands up to carving, shaping and resistance to cracking & splitting.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

You can't go wrong with that description from 2152hq. It really is not a difficult or demanding material, except that it is so valuable that you can't afford to make mistakes or waste any. If it was cheap, I think tungsten carbide burrs used under power would be safe from overheatinwig it. But as it is, you would probably want to cut it as close as possible with a jeweller's or fretsaw, since even the smallest pieces might make a sight blade, inlaid monogram etc. Sharpness of the files can make an astonishing difference.

Like horn, scraping scraping with a single-edged razor blade can leave you a fairly easy polishing job. I'd follow that up with steel wool or bronze wool, then jeweller's rouge on a soft powered wheel. If I was worried about the pores there is white rouge, but if rouge could get it to look speckled, a fine mess we would be in with ivory items which have been handled for a century or two.

The legality of what you do will bear watching. I think the use of old pieces of ivory is fine, but I think in most countries that are party too the CITES treaty, it is illegal to adapt old ivory objects, even though there is no tracing the elephants to give them back again. Still, there is no evidence once the job is done.

Nevertheless I think I was lucky with my Spirlet revolver for which I had to make a new hammer and trigger guard. It was probably not far from being cannibalised for its ivory, inside which there is probably enough for a pair of J-frames at the very least. That ivory probably came from King Leopold's Congo, which was often called the worst governed country in the world.

[Parson]

I have never worked with ivory myself but back in the early sixties we landed in Hong Kong for a few days of RR, came across a ivory shop, piles of tusks laying out on the floor and several workman in various stages of manufacturing. The one common denominator among them from sawing tusks into smaller pieces, to carving full length tusks into one single piece of art to small pieces of jewelry, they all were soaking their pieces in water from time to time as they worked

[Sur-shot]

Would be interested to know how the untreated ivory works out for you.

I tried several bone grips and had a problem with them cracking on my 1911 45 ACP builds, so started sending my grips out to AZ to be stabilized. Looks to me like they put the items inside a vacuum box, fill it with a clear epoxy, without air bubbles, then pull a cold vacuum on the box until the air is pulled out of the bone. I have not had a chance to use a set of the grips yet, on one of my 1911s. They look good, but looks and function can be a very different critter. I do know that heat applied to a natural material like bone or tusks defeats the collagen that holds it together. I followed a recommended mineral oil simmer and had a pile of broken up bone grips in my hand. I figure tusk ivory would do the same thing.
Ed

[Ballistics in Scotland]

That is indeed how they stabilise wood. Ivory is too valuable to try anything experimental until you have done something, and have a few scrap fragments.

The best bone for making things like that is camel, for its density and tight grain, which you can buy on eBay or from knifemaking stores. I may be the only person ever to have imported camel bone, for although you come across the odd camel skeleton, years of sun-drying cracks it. If you want to bleach bone, ordinary hypochlorite bleach won't do it, up to the strength at which it attacks the stuff. But hydrogen peroxide will. It has to be stronger than the concentration commonly available, though.

[gnoahhh]

On the same subject, I have a gallon baggie full of fine ivory dust gifted to me by a late friend who worked with a famous ivory carver in Ohio (Worther, Wurther, Werther?). My idea was to use it as a thickener in epoxy or some other clear compound to create "solid" pieces of ivory to use in projects. Has anyone done this, or know of something similar being done? It would be a waste to throw away the stuff for lack of an application.

[2152hq]

For a while, grips made of 'bonded ivory' were popular. They were made of just what you are thinking of doing.
Ivory dust mixed up with an epoxy or other bonding agent and used to mfg the grips by the moulding process.

At the same time, the term was used by some grip makers to sell grips made by the same process but the 'dust/filler' was not real ivory, but that of man made mat'rls like Corian (a counter top matrl) and other plastics generally..
Other names were attached to the products to market them such as composite, simulated and faux ivory. The word ivory in many cases only describing the color, not the base ingredient in the mix..
I don't know of anyone still making them from epoxy and ivory dust mix anymore as the ivory trade has been stepped on so severely by recent regulations.
It's certainly possible to do. A proper clear or nearly so glue/epoxy needs to be used and mould(s) for the grips made.
Use of the ivory dust from the carving trades in casting ivory figures goes back a long way.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

The tagua or ivory nut is an extremely realistic natural substitute, and you might find them big enough for really small revolver or pistol grips. The same might apply to some warthog tusks, which I believe are still a legitimate item of commerce from South Africa. They do tend to have longitudinal cracks, and I'm not sure how deep they go. Warthog ivory was once preferred for front sight beads, as it doesn't yellow like the elephant variety.

[tward]

Sounds like you are going to have a great project! Don't want to be a wet blanket but aren't there a lot of federal regulations on even possessing elephant ivory? Good luck with the project!
Tim

[GOPHER SLAYER]

A gunsmith I knew years ago told me that he let ivory soak in vinegar for a day before starting to carve.