HHH Knives
Senior Member
Most of you know I am a BURL junky and have a almost abnormal obsession for these beautiful pieces of wood!
But theres another material that really makes me happy and makes a amazing knife. Its Mammoth Ivory. These pieces you see me use on our knives are ancient fossils from 10s of thousands of years ago. These Giant animals roamed the earth some 50000 thousand years ago. Then at some point.. They became extinct.
The fossil and bones and stuff are found throughout the world. They even found 2 full skeletons here in my town a few years back when digging a foundation for a house. I didnt get any of that one, lol But you can bet if I could of I would of!
The ivory is often colored. This is from the minerals and stuff around the animals when they fall. Thousands of years later the Ivory soaked up these minerals changing the color.. The colors in the Ivory can range from almost pure white to tan or browns.. With the outer part, often referred to as Bark. The Bark can be any number of colors.. But can range from Black to tan and gold and every color hue in between. Its really quite unique and amazing stuff! Some of the most beautiful and rare colors are would probably be Blue and Green.. But they all are quite cool in my opinion!
Every once in a while I score something special.. This ivory just arrived at my place yesterday!! Im Stoked. Its some of the finest quality mammoth tusk I have ever seen. Super solid and almost white to cream color insides. With the outer bark a nice brown and golden tan color.. Its very solid with great character highs and lows. similar to stag horn. these are called fissures I think.
The material is very stable and dense and the solid insides part, polish like glass. Where the outsides often are left smooth and buffed but with as much of the color and texture as possible!! I have not made a kitchen knife yet with a ivory handle and hope to at some point.. This piece should make as many as 8 sets of knife scales and many smaller cut off pieces to use as spacers and end caps etc.
I guess Thats about enough of my babbling!! Thanks for looking and if anyone has any comments or questions, Ill do my best to answer.
Here are some pics of that chunk I just scored. Its over 6" long and is about 5" across and 2" thick..
But theres another material that really makes me happy and makes a amazing knife. Its Mammoth Ivory. These pieces you see me use on our knives are ancient fossils from 10s of thousands of years ago. These Giant animals roamed the earth some 50000 thousand years ago. Then at some point.. They became extinct.
The fossil and bones and stuff are found throughout the world. They even found 2 full skeletons here in my town a few years back when digging a foundation for a house. I didnt get any of that one, lol But you can bet if I could of I would of!
The ivory is often colored. This is from the minerals and stuff around the animals when they fall. Thousands of years later the Ivory soaked up these minerals changing the color.. The colors in the Ivory can range from almost pure white to tan or browns.. With the outer part, often referred to as Bark. The Bark can be any number of colors.. But can range from Black to tan and gold and every color hue in between. Its really quite unique and amazing stuff! Some of the most beautiful and rare colors are would probably be Blue and Green.. But they all are quite cool in my opinion!
Every once in a while I score something special.. This ivory just arrived at my place yesterday!! Im Stoked. Its some of the finest quality mammoth tusk I have ever seen. Super solid and almost white to cream color insides. With the outer bark a nice brown and golden tan color.. Its very solid with great character highs and lows. similar to stag horn. these are called fissures I think.
The material is very stable and dense and the solid insides part, polish like glass. Where the outsides often are left smooth and buffed but with as much of the color and texture as possible!! I have not made a kitchen knife yet with a ivory handle and hope to at some point.. This piece should make as many as 8 sets of knife scales and many smaller cut off pieces to use as spacers and end caps etc.
I guess Thats about enough of my babbling!! Thanks for looking and if anyone has any comments or questions, Ill do my best to answer.
Here are some pics of that chunk I just scored. Its over 6" long and is about 5" across and 2" thick..