Totally pumped! Tagua blanks!

[pshrynk]

My wife and I were on a cruise many years ago for an anniversary in South America and found some tagua nut carvings. They are called false ivory or plant ivory. Nearly indistinguishable from the real thing, except grown on trees. I was noodling around today and found this. Way cool!

 

[wood-of-1kind]

Brian, I have made quite a few pens from tagua nuts. The nut turns well and the aroma is exquisite. The down side is that over time, it cracks and you may have to repair as best as you can. I purchased my tagua nuts from Lee Valley Tools.

 

[pshrynk]

Brian, I have made quite a few pens from tagua nuts. The nut turns well and the aroma is exquisite. The down side is that over time, it cracks and you may have to repair as best as you can. I purchased my tagua nuts from Lee Valley Tools.

I wonder if they need to be oiled periodically like horn, or something? The little Buddha and Tara statues I bought haven't cracked over 10 years, but they are substantially thicker than a pen blank...

 

[Curly]

The alternate Ivory you linked is a resin isn't it? Unless you glue a bunch of Tagua nuts together there isn't any way I know of to get bigger.

 

[maxwell_smart007]

tagua nuts are indeed a nut - with a void in the middle. The item you linked to looks like a pale ivory-coloured polyester resin plastic...

 

[pshrynk]

tagua nuts are indeed a nut - with a void in the middle. The item you linked to looks like a pale ivory-coloured polyester resin plastic...

Well, crap. I guess I got a bit excited a bit too quick. I guess I'll need to get the nuts and see what I can get out of them, then. **grumbles** Thanks for pointing that out. I thought they had just layered slices or something.

 

[pshrynk]

Some of the reading up I've done indicates that the void is variable, with larger nuts having smaller voids. (Is it just because I'm a psychiatrist that that sounds vaguely obscene? ?) So maybe I can get a few short pens or glue up some segmented pieces or something.

 

[MDWine]

. . . larger nuts having smaller voids. (Is it just because I'm a psychiatrist that that sounds vaguely obscene? . . . .

Still, pretty funny!