I have put some time into the carving of a small coiled dragon in a tagua nut (pictures to come I hope).

Through the process the nut has been colored by my preparatory drawings, and also by the sanding paper I used (it leaves a grey shading...).

I was wondering what type of cleaning you would recommend me to use.

So far I tried: dishwashing soap, toothpaste, soap

I would be thankfull for any idea you may have used.

Best regards,

Pierre

 Difficulty carving, had to use my power grinder then finished with small knives. Then polished and waxed.

May add some beads to make it a necklace. 

Private message me here, and I will provide a link to the stones.  I forgot to mention, these are located in Eureka, California.

kahlukers@gmail.com

Thank you, Liz

Need your opinions to understand cost of this mammoth tusk. I'm going to sell it, payment via PayPal.

W - 5.55 kg.

H - near 26 cm. 

Dimension of upper end of the tusk - 13 * 16 cm., bottom end of the tusk is a little bigger than upper end.

Best regards Vlad.

I'm a rookie bone carver working on a few pieces and i have no idea what's a good source for the cord. Some questions:

For the NZ members, where's a good place to get braided cord from in NZ?

Are there different types, thicknesses, made from etc and what is best?

I've seen lots of pics with natural coloured stuff but can't find anywhere that might sell.

Suggestions welcomed :-)

Nga mihi

Phil

I have never carved stone before, but I do have experience using a flex shaft for carving wax and metal. I would like to eventually become skilled at carving stone focal beads (especially jade).

I was wondering if it might be best to practice using a less expensive stone that I won't feel bad making mistakes with. Does anyone have any pointers on what stone out there might be good starting point to practice with? Or is it best to jump in with the stone you want to carve, and learn that way?

Thank you so much!

Heidi

Im interested in casting, I want to try carving tufa first but I got confused about what kinda stone is used exactly. According to an artists website (Eric Begay) tufa is a volcanic ash... but other sources  say (wikipedia) that tufa is a limestone and the volcanic ash is called tuff... Which one is used for casting?  

https://www.etsy.com/listing/385543568/bone-for-carvers-carvers-7-pieces-of?ref=shop_home_active_1

But I don't know the type of material, please, your opinion.

Best regards Vlad.

I would like to sell this piece of mammoth tusks. From Ukraine.

Weight - 0.6 kg.

Dimension will be available a litter later.

Best regards.

-----------------------------------------------

The Forum Administrator's note:

The Carving Path forum is not a platform for sales, as stated in the registration guidelines that you all read when you registered.

Please contact Sergeyy S. privately if you are interested in learning about the particular details regarding pricing and purchasing.

Will Dikel

I've given a great deal of thought to using Watusi cow horns for the job, but alas, the walls of them are annoyingly thin for most of their length at around 1-5mm, and the horn i'm trying to reproduce has walls around 1cm thick at its thinnest point.

I'm intending to use it to more or less copy this Chinese rhinoceros horn libation cup in the collection of my local gallery/the National Gallery of Victoria.

Although it features a lot of detailed carvings, they're not particularly fine or small, with the second detailed picture being about half life size.

Buffalo horn could also be used, but to my eye, the thickness of its walls aren't sufficient to be able to give the same sort of look that rhino horn has. I've included an example of a carved buffalo horn 'libation cup' to show what i mean (third picture)

I was just wondering what others thought of my idea and whether there might be any potential for it to work, or alternatively, whether anyone could suggest a better option?

Hello!

I am not a wood carver but I did just dig up a fairly old (likely 40-50 year)

boxwood tree in my back yard. From what I have read, someone who carves might like

to have the 'stump' which is sort of rectangular (12"x6") and has several short

branches sticking out if it (and one longer one). I also have several 4' branches

which are 1" to 2" in diameter.

I live in the West Island of Montreal in case anyone is interested. Would not charge

- except perhaps for a donation to the local church plant sale!

Cheers,

Helen

If anyone is interested please contact Helen privately by >clicking here<

Here is a picture of the material I am refering to.

http://www.industry.siemens.com/topics/global/en/magazines/process-news/chemicals/confluence-solar-solar-silicon/PublishingImages/Confluence-Solar-silicon-ingot_458x272.jpg

Any Information would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Jim Jarman

Recently, I made a few pieces of jewellery for my wife and our grand-children from a small, long-held stock of FWI.

I gained a great deal of enjoyment from this and decided that I would continue this as a hobby. Of course, one cannot obtain FWI freely any more so I have turned to Mammoth Ivory.

I bought some scrap pieces ; fine for the work that I wanted to do and created a few pendants and a bracelet for myself. I was especially proud of the bracelet into which I put more than 20 hours work. Then I wore it once, sweated ........ and destroyed it !!! I hadn't sealed it, something I'd not needed to do with FWI.

So, a question. What is the best sealing method to use on a piece of Mammoth jewellery, that is going to be worn next to the skin ? Super Glue ? Waterproof Epoxy Resin ? Something else ?

The most noticeable difference I have discerned between FWI and MM is the several "layers" in MM. When separated, do all these layers have the same receptiveness to sanding and polishing ?

I have lots to learn and would be hugely appreciative of any help / tips that anyone might be kind enough to give me please.

Thank you,

Gary. West Coast, South Island, NZ

Sorry if this topic has already been answered a long time ago but I am new and wondered if recently, where all you wonderful people are purchasing your Boxwood? Eisenbrand has some from Laos and from S. America but I have heard that boxwood from there is not great. I see there is some in Turkey as well. I wondered what this was like.

Are there any North American distributors? Preferably ones that do not want a 100.00 minimum. I think that is Rude to ask that. I tried the one in Canada A&M woods but they don't have any and do not know when they will ever have any again <-----terrible customer service. Took them a week to answer a simple email and even then they were of no help. Since I am Canadian and this company is from Canada, I apologize in advance to anyone who has a similar contact with these people from the US or Abroad, for their behavior.

I have one little stick here that I picked up from a deceased wood turners stash. It originated from LeeValley. Still had the sticker on it for $1.50. So you know how old this piece is .. LOL It is only maybe 1" diameter and about 15" long.

Thank you in advance for any help you can give me. I really want to try a larger piece. Anyone have any to spare I can purchase? I would be eternally in your debt!

Kind regards,

Wendy

A few months ago i bought a box full of tortoiseshell, ivory, and mother of pearl scraps at auction from an antique restorer that was retiring. Included in the box were a few unusual pieces of dark mother of pearl (i think, from a european fan).

I was just wondering and hoping whether someone could possibly tell me what species of shellfish this type of mother of pearl could might have come from? It has a huge degree of shimmer and colour variation, with heavy pinkish purple to greenish tones

I was thinking either black lipped oyster or rainbow lipped oyster?

https://featheredwoodworking.wordpress.com/2014/12/21/inlay-materials/

I was wondering about the hardness of soapstone versus the hardness of bone.

I do know the hardness of soapstone on the Mohs scale, I also know that soapstone is consider very tender to carve but I never had a piece in my hands. But bone, as far as I know, is not on any scale.

I do, try to , carve bone but is ther anyone outhere who could tell me which one is the hardest?

My understanding of soapstone would lead me to believe that it much softer than bone (knowing that according to the animal, which bone...etc etc the "hardness" of a bone will be different). But like I said, I never touch soapstone....

Anyhow, if any one of you has worked with both and could give me any precision regarding this specific detail, it would be much appreciated.

I search the www but did not come with any useful information

Thanks

I am new to bone carving.Trying to learn how to hand carve Polynesian style carvings, due to family ties. I want to make carvings for family. Since whale bone is so difficult to get now in the US, I'm still trying to buy legal whale bone, are there any other options?

What other bone which originates from the ocean do you suggest that I can use for bone carving and where can I purchase from?

Mahalo,

Tony