Urban Scrimshaw? part 2: Mammoth Ivory!

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.

Urban Scrimshaw? Part One...

Driving past a boarded up house one gloomy afternoon I spied on the patio an old upright piano, wet and warped. My "ivory sense" tingled at the prospect that the piano might be old enough to have been fitted with ivory-clad keys rather than plastic. Indeed! Ivory keys, although one might have missed the keys altogether for the layers of dirt and leaves that had accumulated over the keyboard. Now, to address a necessary technicality briefly: The ivory itself is but a thin veneer over a wooden key, so although the piece of ivory is relatively small, bear in mind that there are around 52 of the white keys on a keyboard, so in total we end up with a nice little pile of ivory when the whole thing is stripped! I should also mention that each white key is generally divided into two parts, the area that the finger makes contact with, which yields a thin piece of ivory about 1" x 2" (referred to as a "head") and the long thin part which falls between the black keys, measuring perhaps 1/2" x 4" (referred to as the "tail"). Now some resourceful lad or lass had already taken the "heads" off of this old piano, but no matter; 52 tails is still a nice take! The picture below reveals the missing "heads" and the "tails" which were still affixed (note: this photo was taken retrospectively. I had cleaned the keys before I had the idea to keep things documented, so I placed them back where I had found them and snapped the photo. The dirty looking key in the center is as they were originally found; I had overlooked that one!)

Now a question for the FinderMaker: "Why Ivory?! Didn't an elephant have to die to get that stuff? Ewww!" I am delighted that the question was raised and will now assert that Yes, an elephant probably did die in the 1800's to take the tusk so that this piano could be fitted with ivory keys. Thankfully, the trade of ivory in the US was banned in 1990 (sadly, however, poachers still pursue elephants to supply other global markets for ivory). I abhor the idea of supporting the death of elephants for ivory, but if an elephant gave its life 100 years ago to supply ivory piano keys, I think it is a shame if those ivory piano keys go to waste left out in the weather, or worse yet, end up in a landfill. Honor the elephant by putting those fine old ivory keys to use; make something beautiful! It seems lately that creative folks are doing just that! One such fellow, Derrick Cruz, crafts and markets an exquisite line of jewelry and accessories featuring ivory piano keys under the name "Black Sheep and Prodigal Sons" His pieces are by no means inexpensive, but why should they be? The are wonderfully crafted, and quite unlike anything else on the market. Of course, with a little creativity, and access to an old piano, the ambitious reader can make some fine jewelry or accessories as well! Now, speaking of access to an old piano, gentle reader, they are everywhere! Unwanted pianos are nearly as prolific as old copies of National Geographic, so if you start poking around on craigslist, junkyards, alleys and empty lots, I have confidence that you, too, will find one. I find that by concentrating intensely on things I want to find, eventually I find it (usually just after I've forgotten I wanted it!). If all else fails, visit your local piano repairperson, who may have a box of old ivories they'd be willing to let you cull from for a nominal fee. Generally, piano key ivory can be popped off the keys without much effort using a knife-tip. Stubborn keys can be lifted by heating with a blow drier or heat gun set on low; this softens up the adhesive greatly and makes removal a snap. Although the keys I found were very dirty, they cleaned up nicely with a bit of mild soap and warm water. The upper 1/4 inch of mine had stained red from contact with part of the felted hammer mechanism; as I found this unappealing, I stacked them all up, bound them tightly with tape and cut off that portion of all of them en masse on the band saw.
This photo shows the keyboard stripped. I also took the black keys, which are carved of dense ebony wood which is black all the way through. I don't yet have a project in mind for them, but ebony is a nice wood that finds use in various inlay and decorative projects, and is certainly worth having on hand! In Part Two of this post, I'll touch upon "Mammoth Ivory" and introduce the gentle art of Scrimshaw...