Anybody here ever work with ivory?

[Ron in Drums PA]

I've come into some old antique ivory piano keys.. I would like to use them as inlays on pens.

Has anybody ever work with this material?
I'm looking for some pointers since I only have a limited supply.

 

[gerryr]

I've only worked with it once, well actually twice if you count the one that I wrecked. What I learned is that when drilling it, on a lathe at least, I needed to increase the speed to about 1800 rpm. At 500 rpm the brad point bit caught the ivory and the whole works flew apart. It seems to be fairly brittle and doesn't cut well on a band saw. I used an Exacto saw to cut it after trying once with my band saw. It glues well with CA. That's just about the extent of my knowledge.

 

[Jim Boyd]

I turned some banded in an ebony cigar. I trimmed it with a scrollsaw with out any problems. I didn't notice any bad things when I drilled it either. Probably because I was leary of the ebony[8D]

 

[ldimick]

Ask Nils from CSUSA. I think he did some recently.

 

[Ron in Drums PA]

Thanks Everyone

Gerry:
FME, I find brad point bits are not always the best to use on pen blanks.

Jim:
I'm planning on using ebony and ivory also but I'm still deciding on the pen kit. I need to scroll saw some inlays, which blade worked best for you?

Lynn:
Nils emailed me with some suggestions - Thanks Nils!!

 

[Jim Boyd]

Originally posted by Ron in Drums PA
<br />Thanks Everyone



Jim:
I'm planning on using ebony and ivory also but I'm still deciding on the pen kit. I need to scroll saw some inlays, which blade worked best for you?

There is more than what HD sells[][] In other words "That is all that I've tried". Someday I'll get some Flying Dutchmans[]

 

[Ron in Drums PA]

I've used Flying Dutchman Blades they are great
http://www.mikesworkshop.com/blades.htm

 

[Teniko]

My dad gave me a bunch of mammoth ivory and there was a piece big enough for a cigar pen. It drilled and turned like buffalo and sanded well. This was early in my pen making and I hadn't learned some of the woking properties of different materials so I just sanded and polished. Around October he went out with the pen and both barrels made a huge "pop" sound. He looked at the pen and it had cracked in two on both barrels[xx(]. Since then I use the ivory for bands or inlay. I also soak thin ca into it before sanding because the off colored sanding dust contaminates it.

 

[Ron in Drums PA]

Thanks David