Another fine form of ivory you will not be able to scavenge in your neighborhood, unless your neighborhood happens to be located in the Yakutia Republic of Russia, is Mammoth Ivory. The frozen ground of this region just south of the Arctic Circle has preserved the remains of millions, perhaps even billions of extinct Woolly Mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) which roamed the area up until the end of the Pleistocene Era some 10,000 years ago. During summer, the frozen tundra thaws just enough to reveal these ancient treasures to those who know where to look. Mammoth Ivory isn't just a recent commodity; Russian craftspeople have been carving the material into beautiful works of art for years, but thanks to ambitious fossil hunters like Igor G., Mammoth Ivory is finally readily available to crafters and hobbyists in America! This video offers a glimpse into the remote world of mammoth ivory excavations.
I first found out about Igor's business while searching for Mammoth Ivory on Ebay, and couldn't resist bidding on one of his lots of "Mammoth tusk trimmings" which consist of various sizes and shapes of tusk sold by the pound:
My 2 pound lot (above) yielded a wonderful array of useful pieces of ancient ivory (detail below)! 
So what have I done with my Mammoth Ivory? I must admit to being somewhat intimidated by this ancient stuff; I cant help but feel awed by the tremendous age of the pieces, and have been reluctant to do anything other than handle them and ponder life on the tundra thousands of years ago. That said, I did choose some of the finest pieces and buff them well with a bit of beeswax on my dremel buffing wheel and solder brass display mounts for them. Those made fine gifts for the Natural History buffs in my family. I also used a piece to fashion a crude representation of an Eskimo fishing spear: 
As soon as I feel more comfortable with my scrimshaw skills, I shall certainly like to depict a whaling scene on one of my larger slabs of Mammoth Ivory! The fellow I mentioned in my previous post on piano key ivory, Derrick Cruz, has crafted a limited edition line of Mammoth Ivory straight razors for the gents under the name of his line Black Sheep and Prodigal Sons. Well played, Sir! And finally, if you'd like to learn more about Mammoths and the Mammoth Ivory trade, take a look at this excerpt from the book "Mammoths: Giants of the Ice Age" by Adrian Lister, Paul Bahn, and Jean Auel... fascinating reading! Please check back soon for part 3 of this post addressing the gentle art of scrimshaw! 
Mammoth Ivory Tusk Tip.
5 comments:
I do scrimshaw on piano keys. You mentioned buffing the keys with beeswax to produce a shine. Did you use any fine abrasive to do this?
Greetings, Jordan! The keys I have on hand are pretty shiny as is-- what I do is put the buffing wheel on my dremel tool and start it spinning, then touch it to a block of beeswax briefly, so the wheel picks up a little wax. Then I buff this into the cleaned ivory (this is before I have done any scrimshaw on it) to seal the pores so that after I've scrimmed into the surface and applied my ink, the ink soaks into the scrimmed areas and just beads up (and easily wipes off of) the rest of the surface. After Im done scrimming and inking I may just go over the surface with the waxed buffing wheel very lightly to seal the whole thing. Now, with the mammoth ivory pieces I will use very very fine grit sandpaper (I like that kind that is for "wet sanding" but I dont actually get the ivory wet as the mammoth ivory can tend to be a little absorbent and will warp and or split rather easily as it dries) and then use the beeswax/buffing wheel combo to produce a final shine. All The Best To You, Jordan!
-Paul
Prehistoric Woolly mammoth Ivory "The Most Significant Sculpture Material in the World" I have said this since the late 60's and continue. Too many trips to the Arctic in my history in search for this wonderful material and will be there again this summer in the far north, for weeks. Lost all of my gear to bears in the past and was attacked more than once. Always have been visited by the spirit of the ancient times when the world was a different place, when Mammoths lived...Go there! William Sidmore
Oh Heavens! Im awfully glad you visited and left a message... your own Mammoth blog is a trove of great pictures and information... what an interesting life! I do urge interested FinderMaker readers to go visit Mammoth's blog!!!
An very informative article.
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