Ivory vs Giraffe Bone

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After installing my first set of giraffe bone handles on the 7 1/2" Fighter that I took to PKA in Denver, I am totally sold on the stuff. (You can see a picture on the front page of this SRJ forum). I saw some white, un-stained giraffe on knives at the Nico Bernard table which was almost indistinguishable (Is that a word?) from elephant ivory. [Their table was manned (personed?) by the very pleasant Rayno and Celia Rabie] The "grain" on the end of the slabs/handles was obviously not the same as ivory, but the sides were so close, one might easily be fooled if he wasn't specifically intent on seeing the difference.

My question is: With the ivory situation the way it is, and will probably contue to be, in spite of conservation/harvesting efforts in Africa, would it not be wise to be looking for a substitute "ivory-like" material? I know that there are the imitation ivories, but they aren't a "natural" material. The giraffe bone is both "natural and beautiful...as well as being "exotic," like ivory.


I think that it might be a good thing to try to encourage non-ivory ivories, looking down the road into the handle situation, as many/all of the supliers are doing. We can encourage g-bone, mammoth, fossil walrus, etc., rather than continue to press for "real" ivory. If there is something out there that's just a cool, why not encourage it? I know, however that, "Ivory is Ivory is Ivory!"


I realize that many, probably most, makers are not actively pushing ivory, but maybe we could support the elephant by encouraging alternatives more zealously. I've said for a long time that ivory looks much better on the animal than it does on one of my knives.

Of course, pre-CITES materials are available, and I use them now and then, but they won't be here forever. I do love ivory, though.


However............the stabilized g-bone I put on last week shows ZERO shrinkage after a week, and is ALSO very beautiful. It's easier to work with than ivory and just might be a little tougher, in that it doesn't want to buff away next to the guard as much as ivory does. It drills nicer, with less tendency toward chipping; and even smells kinda nice. (However, the closest I can compare it to is the smell of fresh tomatoe juice, but not as pleasant.) It's no where near the wonderful smell of viory being ground, though. Maybe the odor is a result of the dye/stain /polymer or whatever is used. I'll know more when I get some un-dyed to work with in Oct.)

To you who've used it, what are your exerience and feelings about this fairly new, and exciting to me, knife handle material?

SRJ

One good thing, as mentioned, Mammoth and giraffe-bone come from animals that were not killed for their ivory or bone. One point in their favor....

The cost isn't that bad-yet. I paid $100 in New Orleans for TWO sets of g-bone and $50 for one-to be delivered later-set of white bone in Denver. Heck, Stag is not that far from $50!

That's another story/concern: What's the stag situation going to be in 1-5 yrs.?
The imi-stag looks pretty good, haven't put any on a knife yet, have one pr. in the shop.

And, yes, how will demand affect the price of g-bone? Yet to be seen.

Oh, looking over the above thread, it seems that I'm on a soap-box for Nico. I only mention his name because, to my knowlege, he's the only one with the product. Anyone know of another supplier? He does have some reps in the US, I believe.....

SRJ

I've since, after trying to use white giraffe bone, found that the part that looks like ivory is only the outer 1/8-1/4" of material.

The inside changes color/hue/shades and won't work if you need the handle sides to match.

More experimenting is necessary, for sure.

I still love the stabilized/dyed, stuff though.

I truly apologize if I have caused anyone problems, having recommended something that I hadn't personally tested yet.

Steve-

Check out the link under "new knife" on the newbie's forum. I used stabilized and dyed giraffe for the scales, and, although the scales don't match exactly, I do like the effect.

I sliced up a whole bone, and had WSSI leave about half of it natural, 1/4 dyed brown, and 1/4 dyed blue. He resisted me on the blue, saying he didn't think it would give satisfactory results. I now wish I had dyed the whole batch blue.

I used a set of died scales to do a Price Dagger that I finished this weekend.It looked good to me.I think that it looks better than the imitation Ivories.Here is a picture of the handle:

More pictures of the knife
albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=743108&a=11220605
Hope you like it.
Bruce

Beautiful, Bruce. Thanks a lot for sharing this, and the additional photos with us.

I really like this material, however, I wish the white, un-dyed, was solid-colored throughout the bone, so that we could use it for a white ivory substitute, more easily and for larger knives. No problem with the dyed, it's available in pretty big pieces. I'll be putting a set on a Green River next week.

Thanks again.

I still have two full leg bones if anyone is interested, drop me a line.
Mike