Ivory substitutes

T

Travis Fry

Joined
Jun 11, 2010
Messages
489
Now that ivory is completely stigmatized, I'm looking for some alternatives. I've seen the Alternative Ivory at Masecraft, and I like the look of the Elforyn Super Tusk that only seems to be available in Europe (the one exception, Material Maker Supply, does not have the right size), but I haven't worked with any of them. Does anyone have any experience with ivory substitutes? How is it to work with? How real does it look (and how much does that matter)? Is it carveable or more like plastic?

Interior mammoth is hard to come by and SUPER expensive, so I'd like to try something else first.

Let me know what y'all have found, and any recommendations.
 
I've tried Ivory paper micarta,and like it. Tends to get dirty... Ivory G10 is awesome but it doesn't really look like Ivory ( that doesn't really matter to me,as long as the color is right) and, of course there's different bone products that I really love!
 
It was discussed recently: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/where-to-buy-armorin-blocks-faux-ivory.1758706/
Richard338 said:
I agree that interior mammoth is expensive and hard to find, but there doesn't seem to be a great substitute.
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Ah yes. I haven't frequented Bladeforums much in the last few years since we got the search function.

I should add that this will be both carved and polished to a high gloss, so G10 is out for this application. I may end up trying the Masecraft stuff simply because that's what I can find, but would still be interested to hear about other's experiences.
 
I have seen several reports of the masecraft cracking. Check out elforyn super tusk?
 
The Masecraft product looks like real ivory. It's easy to work, but brittle. It takes a high polish.
 
Hubert S. said:
Atlas (www.cuestik.com) carries Elforyn in a variety of sizes, maybe they have what you need.
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They're out of the size I really need, but I can buy it slightly over and 3x longer than I need and save it for later.

So an update: I poked around on their site a while and all of a sudden the size I needed showed up. A lot of the links are dead and their product listings obscure, but I finally was able to find what I was after. Thanks!
 
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I use paper micarta, myself. I'm too cheap to pay the premium for it, so I just make my own with card paper and alumalite slow.

I used Holly for a while, but I wanted a whiter color, and it yellowed more than I'd like from using Cactus Juice (I can't speak for professionally treated wood).
 
Tight grained holly stabilized by K&G with the clear resin is a pretty fair substitute. Tell Ken that you want it to stay white. He'll use the proper resin for that.
I like holly stabilized with the regular resin, too. It looks like ancient ivory or mammoth.

Some suppliers offer stabilized bone, which is a fair looking substitute. Giraffe bone is very dense and ivory-like in texture. It has a somewhat yellow/tan color. It is often dyed...

I never liked the current acrylic simulants, like Masecraft. It looks great, but is too brittle for anything but a showpiece.

Ivory paper micarta is very nice, but you have to work it slow and cool or it will burn.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
Tell Ken that you want it to stay white. He'll use the proper resin for that.
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I actually just talked to him yesterday about this and he clarified this by saying that it's the same resin, but when you notify them about the need for it to be as clear as possible, what they do is use a fresh/virgin batch.
 
I just finished a project using a synthetic ivory I got from guitar parts and more.

Resin-Ivory+S™ Knife Handle Block 1 1/8" by 1 1/4" by 5"

Resin-Ivory™ Top grade Imitation ivory for knife making. Resin Ivory™ is the highest quality imitation ivory we have seen,worked or handled - ever.
guitarpartsandmore.com
It's nice stuff. It grinds and polishes well. Just don't get it hot. It will split.
20210711_133901.jpg
 
The Resin ivory posted by Travis is better than the Massecraft stuff in my opinion. USA knifemaker sells it as well.
 
20 or so years back there was an ivory substitute called, "True Ivory". I think it was a European product. It was really good looking. It was not acrylic. I think it was a polyester or epoxy resin with a super-fine powder filler. It was mixed in such a way as to make lines that were very realistic. The color was also somewhat varied, which added to the natural ivory look. IIRC, I bought some from Mick Koval up at Bill Moran's hammer-in. I haven't seen it since then.
 
Could I turn the Masecraft stuff? Also, it’s been 3 days and they haven’t even agnowledged my order, and I am in a really big hurry to get the knife to a client. Is that normal, or did I get from an impersonating site? It was 7 dollars for a 1x6 block, in case that’s way too cheap or way too expensive. Sorry for the bad grammar, I’m currently up at 4 am working my butt off to finish the blade.😂
 
My issue with ivory paper micarta is that the quality of varies a lot. It’s all from the same manufacturer but I’ve seen essentially two different ivory papers. One seems harder and polishes really well and it may pickup some dirt but over all it’s good. The other is oddly soft. It doesn’t work very well, it doesn’t polish up nicely, and it gets dirty if you look at it. You don’t know which you get until you start working with it or trying to polish it.
 
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