pipemakersforum.com

Looks like pre-ban ivory is done.
Just got an email from Elephant Ivory Tusks last night.
I wonder where people will go to get ivory now that they can't get it legally? That's not a real question. Please don't answer it. I'm going to go look at the worthless ivory in my shop.
Poop.

andrew

It's been this way in Europe for some time, so no big changes here.
Anyway those are ridiculous laws. I can't understand what do they think the benefit will be. Illegal ivory trade will do even better from now on...
Actually I think a big part of the fault is on the African countries who can't manage to lock up their poachers and get rid of the corruption going on between the poachers and those who are supposed to protect the animals. They could be making real money and protecting the animals at the same time, now neither is working well, as far as I know the governments cannot really profit from the legally obtained (natural deaths and ill animals) ivory because of the regulations. People who obtain and sell it on the black market are the only ones making money there.

We have some members from South Africa, so maybe they can share their views on this...

I can only say that I dream of a day when someone will invent the technology to cultivate real ivory in a lab, so we can leave the elephants be and still have this great material for our use.

It's an unfortunate situation. I'm a hunter and I have no problem harvesting wild animals, I do so regularly. Even so, I feel pretty bad about ivory. So many Elephants slaughtered and left to rot for nothing more than tusks....
Pastuch sums it up well. Its a shame that ivory doesn't grow on trees. There is truly nothing so wonderful and beautiful to work with.
Like a sad majority of political decisions, they have managed to get everything exactly wrong when it comes to Ivory.
Its too bad. But laws will change. Probably not for the better, but they will certainly be different again.

what did they do outlaw preban ivory now too? what about mamoth tusk?

mammoth tusk is still ok. I've not seen any uproar about poached mammoths in quite a while.

Well guys I'm in Wyoming. I believe a number of mammoth were found here. I'll start excavating my backyard as soon as the frost is off in search of tusk


Sent from my banana phone.

i got an old upright piano a while back free at a yard sale, weighed a ton. we ended up scraping it, wasn't worth the expense to get it tuned and fixed up etc. wish i had salvaged the keys apparently any old junky piano made before the 30s might have had ivory keys.

I have been watching ebay to find a set of ivory piano keys. I thought they would be perfect to make stem inlays. I guess it isnt worth pursuing now.

Use Tagua nut, it's relatively inexpensive. It looks, feels and works just like ivory. It even colour ages like ivory over time.

http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/208540 ... fgodz0sA_Q

Frank? Wondered if you were still around and here you are!

Yeah, I looked into Tagua nut a year ago. It's nice and white, somewhat translucent, but it would never pass for ivory. It's a good, but altogether different material. I've got some prepped on my work bench that I'll use eventually.


andrew

Hiya Andrew. Yes, I pop in on the rare occasion when I get a notification on an old thread I'm still subscribed to.

andrew wrote:It's nice and white, somewhat translucent, but it would never pass for ivory. It's a good, but altogether different material. I've got some prepped on my work bench that I'll use eventually.

When used as a stem/shank ring the whiteness colours to an ivory hue fairly quickly. The Tagua nut ring I put on one of my pipe stems a few years ago already looks like aged ivory.

The trouble with tagua nut is finding a big enough piece to work with.

Rad

RadDavis wrote:The trouble with tagua nut is finding a big enough piece to work with.

Rad

True. They usually have a small, natural void in the centre, plus the germination wotsis, so you end up with a lot of waste, but it can be done.

I'm in support of the new legislation. I've used salvaged and other pre-ban ivory for a lot years, first in piano work, and then in pipe making. Turns out their is tons of counterfeit "pre-ban" smuggled into the US, and even more in China that is a large part of the incentive for poaching. Thankfully there are great alternatives out there that I find just as pleasing aesthetically. A few months ago I was becoming increasingly concerned that by buying pre-ban ivory I could be unknowingly contributing to poaching. In light of that I decided I wouldn't buy any more "pre-ban" Ivory.

This is a great radio show on the subject if you're interested in understanding a little more about the problem:
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2014- ... vory-trade

I would be in support of it if China was going to do anything, but last I heard they consumed close to 80% of the illegal ivory and were not going to participate in the ban. This means that the ivory from culled animals will be destroyed and go to waste. I'm all for legislation that solves the problem, but I have serious doubts that this will have a chilling effect on poaching. Prohibition was fantastic for liquor sales and locking up people that had no business being in prison. Oh well, done deal now.

andrew

I decided not to use ivory a little while ago due to the fact that it is a very unstable material. It can change shape, crack, and it is a bitch to work with. There are plenty of other light colored materials that are much better to work with and have beauty.

PremalChheda wrote:I decided not to use ivory a little while ago due to the fact that it is a very unstable material. It can change shape, crack, and it is a bitch to work with. There are plenty of other light colored materials that are much better to work with and have beauty.

Elephant Hugger.

It is a pain. I always had to let mine sit for a year before using it.

andrew

If only wolves had ivory... that would be nice

andrew

andrew wrote:If only wolves had ivory... that would be nice

andrew

Now, if poachers grew tusks, I'd be all for hunting THEM!!