steveg Posted March 21, 2001 Report Posted March 21, 2001 is there a wood that is very white, very hard, with little or no visible grain ? I want to make a FB and tail piece for a baroque violin that I am restoring.
Mike Powell Posted March 21, 2001 Report Posted March 21, 2001 Steve, Might want to consider english boxwood, carves well and does not show grain, has golden color of butter rather than white, I have a few chunks that may be large enough for a fingerboard if interested, Mike
MikeH Posted March 23, 2001 Report Posted March 23, 2001 Steve, Holly would be my choice. Old English makers used it to provide the stringing in Baroque fingerboards. At the moment a friend of mine is using it instead of ivory to make mounts for Irish Uilleann Pipes. It also makes very nice pegs. Mike
steveg Posted March 23, 2001 Author Report Posted March 23, 2001 bleached maple has too much grain. english boxwood may be too yello. where can find holly ? Howard core does not stock it.
tarawa1943 Posted March 24, 2001 Report Posted March 24, 2001 Steve, How about Mammoth Ivory? I have seen pictures of old violins with Ivory fittings. Just a thought. george www.ivoryworksltd.com
steveg Posted March 24, 2001 Author Report Posted March 24, 2001 Ivory would be great, but it is on the UN black list, you can not make new objects even from old ivory. p.s. my email to george keeps getting rejected by FPL
ttk Posted March 24, 2001 Report Posted March 24, 2001 I was under the impression that only elephant Ivory was illega not mammoth ivory--any body know?
tbloemer Posted March 24, 2001 Report Posted March 24, 2001 Thanks for posting the neat Ivory link George, I think I'll order a section of the fossil mammoth tusk. I've worked with bone, elephant, and walrus tusk, but never fossilized material, I wonder if it will be brittle? Any one work with Fossilized material before?
fiddlers Posted March 24, 2001 Report Posted March 24, 2001 tbloemer: I have used mammoth ivory on bow tips. It works very much the same as cow bone. Ed
tarawa1943 Posted March 24, 2001 Report Posted March 24, 2001 Mammoth is extinct not endangered, so I think that it is legal to use the ivory that they dig up. george
Mairead Posted March 24, 2001 Report Posted March 24, 2001 I would urge folk not to buy from that source on ethical grounds. Note that they also sell elephant ivory, within the US. No claim is made that the elephant ivory is from fossil sources; in fact, nothing is said about it at all, apart from the caveat that they won't sell outside the US. Sounds to me as though they know they're trafficking and don't fancy getting done for it.
Michael Darnton Posted March 25, 2001 Report Posted March 25, 2001 Bow people tell me that the difference between mammoth and modern elephant is definite and obvious, both to them, and to the customs people. Something to do with the grain structure, and sometimes also, but not invariably, the color. I don't know this first-hand, though.
tarawa1943 Posted March 25, 2001 Report Posted March 25, 2001 Is natural boxwood white enough?? I just saw fittings in a catalogue and they were very white.
steveg Posted March 25, 2001 Author Report Posted March 25, 2001 If there is a source for LEGAL mammoth ivory in the US that would be great. I have already been through the ordeal with customs over the importation of some antique (40 year old) ivory chess pieces that my father bought in Bankok. Are there pieces that would be unbroken at 4mm X 40mm X 260mm ? If not then I am going to try holly thanks
steveg Posted March 25, 2001 Author Report Posted March 25, 2001 this is the "look" that I am trying get. http://www.alpine.net/~steveg/goffriller_school.jpg [This message has been edited by steveg (edited 03-25-2001).]
tarawa1943 Posted March 25, 2001 Report Posted March 25, 2001 Steve, It looks like the natural boxwood to me, but I don' know where you could get a piece big enough for a fingerboard. Try Dick in Germany. george
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