Artificial "ivory"

Does anyone know of a current source of suitable material to rehandle some butter knives?

Try searching online for 'alternative ivory'.

They were usually made of bone. If you can find a proper butcher, you may be able to get an ox's femur.

Allegedly, soaking a potato in glacial acetic acid converts it to soli cellulose acetate.

More reliable could be Corian.  I have a local kitchen fitter who has loads of scrap, raid his skip.

Edited By John Haine on 12/01/2023 12:25:33

I have used "Ivory 133" cast acrylic for a cosmetic ivory look.

Martin C

There are many more suitable plastics now than there were in the 'good old days' - but butter knives are not made using it. Using ivory is frowned on, so anything that imitates ivory is frowned on just as hard.

But hope may be at hand. There is a 'hobby' which can help - making fancy pens. Axminster is one supplier that comes to mind - they are likely to have something that will meet your needs.

Cheers, Tim

Bit expensive but any good?

Try the local charity shops, you might find some donor material.

Brian

Most of the wood turning suppliers do a modern resin form in various size pieces, Axminster, Poolewood, etc or look at "Where to buy" on GPS's site

There is (or used to be) a product called Micarta, much used by the knife-making fraternity. Lots of different colours available if you wanted to move away from the traditional.

Rob

ALso check that it is 'dishwasher safe'

Tagua nuts ( seeds ) from the palm of the same name are known as vegetable ivory.

Seen them on ebay for £8 each I am sure there will be other sources.

However they will not be big enough to do a knife handle.

Don't need to, you can buy pre-prepared blanks of bone from suppliers to the cutlery trade.

SheffieldCutleryShop has a wide range of camel bone blanks.

Axminster Tools stock it.

regards Martin

Pen turning suppliers sell the Ivory substitute These are some but may be a little on the small diameter size there are others that sell bigger sizes

Thank you all.

Ah yes, but in my experience (provided that you are buying some meat) bones are buckshee.

It is alright turning bone but if anything like turning antler then a nice day with the shed/workshop door open is advised and a fan blowing across the piece aiming at the open door. Boy does antler stink when being turned.

Knife Scales! Well I still learn something new here on a regular basis.

Bone must be degreased before use; don't just get some big lumps from your butcher and wing it. Doing it properly at home is possible but tedious - you can't just give it a wash down and get on with it. The best approach is to buy it prepared, unless working with bone is your particular interest.

I'd avoid the resin blanks you see advertised on eBay - they tend to be brittle and don't age well.

The Corian stuff is good to work and cheap, but it's not really anything like ivory in appearance. It works well mechanically - it's often used for guitar nuts and saddles, for example.

Two other well regarded makers are GPS (Guitar Parts something) who make several different excellent varieties in various forms, and Elforyn. Neither are very cheap, but machine and polish well and look very good indeed.