Working with Mammoth bone

I am getting some mammoth bone from Alaska. Does anyone know how hard
is it to work with? Is it something that can be carved pretty easily.
Any info would be very helpful.

Thank You
Karen

I work with mammoth bone and ivory depending on the piece you get of
ivory and how thin it is it can crack and flake.

It is brown and petrified sometimes so that is carving stone I use
my roto tool diamond bits and sanding to rough out cabs from
petrified. White pieces are usually soft I have scrimshawed on the
ivory and bone it is easy to work with and that is just a steel pin
so I hope that helps

Teri

Karen- It’s pretty easy to carve. Just go slow if you use a flex
shaft or mechanical grinder or you’ll burn it.

However, I should warn you that carving bone or Ivory is pretty
stinky.

That’s what I love about Tagua Nut. It smells good when you grind
it.

Have fun and make lots of jewelry.
Jo Haemer
www.timothywgreen.com

Karen,

Fossil ivory is like working with butter when you use water and
scintered diamond drills/burs. It will need polishing w/ white
diamond or blue rouge as a final finish; even used the small silcon
Advantedge (Rio Grande, disclaimer) polishing wheels in the flexshaft
handle. I love the organic quality/look.

When things quite down around here, I’ll post pix of the two
bracelets I created w/ large fossil mammoth/walrus ivory on the
Ganoksin blog. Was lucky enough to find/use a fossil walrus tooth in
one. All the fossil is from Ivory Jack’s (disclaimer) large polished,
but unfinished selection, which I was personally able to rummage
through at Tucson last year.

Kay Taylor