What do you think of this material

[Russianwolf]

Stabilized Dyed Mammoth Tooth. The pic is of knife blanks a guy on ebay has and they are pricey, but I think they'd make for some cool pens.


http://cgi.ebay.com/MAMMOTH-TOOTH-S...41181QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262

 

[DCBluesman]

I think you posted the wrong link!

 

[Russianwolf]

sorry, fixed it.

 

[Skye]

Normally pistol grip slabs are too thin for pens.

Also, turning anything from a tooth is going to be tough!

 

[GoodTurns]

Can't speak for the teeth, but the seller is good. his stuff is as good or better than he lists. I get my mammoth tusk bits from him and will probably get a tooth with my next order, just to try it out.

 

[bruce119]

I am an advt fossil collector and I have some mammoth tooth whole and sliced. It is very pretty sliced but it is thin. Also it is fossil which means rock. IF you could get some big enough. I have some big teeth you need a diamond saw to cut it. Then that makes me wounder about the dye I would think it would just be on the surface. Now he says he gets it from Russia maybe they aren't mineralized (hard fossil rock) and workable. I am not a paleontologist just a collector.

 

[Skye]

Well, even if they're not fossilized (which I'd doubt), turning enamel is tooough stuff. I know Eagle (think it was him) tried turning some warthog teeth and said it wasn't worth the bother. Coming from him, that's a mouthful!

 

[Rifleman1776]

Normally pistol grip slabs are too thin for pens.

Also, turning anything from a tooth is going to be tough!

The ones I buy are a minimum of 3/4" thick, some almost one inch. .93" to be exact.

 

[Skye]

Man, I thought they were thinner than that. Hmmm.....

 

[Russianwolf]

I emailed the guy and he says they workability is between Ivory and pearl. These are dug out of the permafrost in Siberia so they may not be fossilized. I have some tusk fragments and they are definitely workable.

Since he actually cuts them, he should be able to provide any thickness needed, or the pen may be like Jon's Mammoth and Bog Oak Pen that he posted a while back. Using just a knife scale on one side of the cap. An 1/8th inch is all you need in that case.

 

[Skye]

I tend to think it's going to be a huge PITA, but I'd like to know what one large pen blank would cost, if he cuts it himself.