All About Pocket Knives

Hello. Could someone tell me why mammoth tooth scales have colors in them? For example blue,beige,and green. Thanks. Henry

henry1 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 25, 2023 2:35 am Hello. Could someone tell me why mammoth tooth scales have colors in them? For example blue,beige,and green. Thanks. Henry

Thousands and thousands of years of burial and weathering, freezing and thawing while in contact with soils with minerals and compounds that stain them all kinds of colors.

Correct. Mammoth tooth is actually a fossil. Once living biological matter, now mineralized. https://www.uky.edu/KGS/fossils/fossil- ... -tooth.php

They make beautiful handle covers, (which is the proper term BTW. Pocket knife “scales”, aka liners, are made from metal. Nickel silver and brass are the most common scale materials). The terms “scales” and “covers” have become more or less interchangeable and folks will know what is meant, but technically the correct term as used by cutlers is “covers”.

Ken

Correction, it is not fossil. Fossilized means that the molar, tusk etc. was broken down or slowly leached out and removed through deterioration and biodegradation. Fossilization means REPLACED my minerals and has become a type of stone. What we are talking about is not stone, it is still molar, tusk, and has only been colored or stained with minerals but the original material is still there. It is often called a fossil but that is a misnomer. It is still ivory, or enamel etc. Not fossilized. I carve Mammoth tusk all the time and it's ivory, it is not stone that has gone through fossilization. I carve it with woodworking tools and that would not be feasible with a stone or a true fossil. Wood tools won't carve stone efficiently or practically. They easily carve ivory.

So there’s two different materials - fossilized and non-fossilized mammoth tooth? Or is calling it fossil (as in the article I referenced) just wrong?

Ken

Fossilized material is stone. It has been replaced by minerals. The ivory is gone. Mineralized, however, which is what all our knife handles etc. are made of, is still ivory or tooth that has been stained through exposure to minerals, but the ivory or enamel still remains and is only stained or colored. In the case of ivory it is still very easy to carve with woodworking tools. Fossil is stone and woodworking tools don't work on it. Ivory handles are mineralized ivory, not fossilized stone.


https://www.boonetrading.com/pages/working-with-ivory

Got it. So there is fossilized mammoth tooth (which is not ivory), and mammoth tooth ivory.

Thanks.

Ken

Mammoth teeth, or molars are not ivory. They are enamel, as are our teeth. Mammoth tusk is a modified tooth made of modified dentin which is what ivory really is, and is much softer, grows faster and is constantly growing. Mammoth molars reach a certain size and quit growing only to be ground down from chewing. Mammoth tusk grows for the entire life of the animal and does not reach a maximum size in adulthood as teeth or molars do, but instead it keeps on growing with annual growth rings similar to trees and can grow to something like 15+ feet long because it never stops growing. It keeps getting bigger. The teeth or molars do not keep getting bigger, they are like our teeth, they reach a maximum size for adults and then are actually ground down and start to get smaller through the erosion of the enamel from the grinding of lifelong chewing. Enamel teeth or molars are much harder than ivory. They cannot be cut or carved with woodworking tools, you need stone cutting tools. I have never heard of fossil molars, but I would guess they are out there if they are turned to stone. If they are not turned to stone they are still enamel. Same with tusk. If it's turned to stone it's not ivory anymore and is real fossil. But the ivory we all have on knife handles or pistol grips etc. is still ivory, it has not turned to stone as a fossil is, it is only stained or colored a bit or a lot and still remains ivory.

I think any body parts over 10,000 years old are considered fossils, even if they haven't transformed completely to stone.

Eric

Is the OP referring to ones that have been dyed? I see those in a handful of unnatural colors...

ea42 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 25, 2023 3:40 pm I think any body parts over 10,000 years old are considered fossils, even if they haven't transformed completely to stone.

Eric

I'm not even 100 years old and many consider me a fossil.

Very nice lesson on ivory there I man I learned a lot iman thank you

henry1 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 25, 2023 2:35 am Hello. Could someone tell me why mammoth tooth scales have colors in them? For example blue,beige,and green. Thanks. Henry

It comes from not brushing their teeth, Henry!