Did You Know Some Facts on Ivory?

Image : http://www.flickr.com

The definition of "Real Ivory" has always been the tusks of elephants and the extinct Woolly Mammoth tusks. It is the dentin that is found within these types of very large animals that has long defined ivory, and places as Africa, Asia, Alaska, Siberia, and Canada are the original ivory resources for procuring real ivory.

The tusks of African elephants commonly weigh 55 lb. or 25 kg., but there have been elephant tusks that have weighed more than 200 lb. or 91 kg. The mammoth tusks tend to weight more around 300 to 360 lbs. or more depending upon the mammoth's size, age and gender.

Ivory can be of a hardened or softer variety, and the softer type of ivory will be less liable to crack due to the moisture held within it. It will be less brittle, and much easier to actually create and design due to the moisture inside the tusk. With the killing of elephants long being banned internationally for the last several decades now, it is the mammoth ivory that beautifully intricate items of ivory are designed and although it is a more brittle and dry ivory, mammoth ivory items are more historically significant due to the age of the ivory itself.

Some of the other accepted types of ivory substitutes have long been Tagua or also known as vegetable ivory, along with the tusk and or teeth of hippopotamus, the walrus, the narwhal, the sperm whale, and even the tusk and teeth of the wild boar. No matter the animal of origins with real ivory, items made out of ivory are truly admired for the closely grained texture, the adhesive hardness, the mellowing yellowish colors and the smoothness that is pleasing to the touch. Real ivory will be cold to the touch, unlike plastic pretending to be ivory that is warm to the touch.

Ivory may be bleached or painted and is so perfect for large or small detailed carvings that always pleases the eye. The larger ivory surfaces are perfect for veneer and may be obtained with the process of cutting sheets that are spiraled around the tusks. Some of today's most common ivory uses are the makings of organ or piano keys, knife and gun handles, along with many other types of handles such as cabinets or inside expensive cars, and billiard balls.