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This is an odd question but is there a reason that there are so many customized knives that use fossilized mammoth molars for part of the scales? I understand that they are interesting but have they found THAT many fossilized mammoths? Is it an unregulated trade? It has just kind of left me befuddled??

I'd guess that, like many things, it's a combination of factors. Unregulated trade is probably one of them. Like the ivory trade, the sale of modern elephant teeth might be prohibited or heavily regulated. Bonus factor would be that it's less likely than ivory to arouse the ire of the animal rights mafia. The fact that it can be cut into slabs and the way it looks when dyed probably also enter into the equation. Some folks like scales that are visually interesting. Porosity may also be a factor, all I've ever seen has been stabilized. Might also be easier to work with than stone.

I think it started as a substitute for (largely banned) ivory. But I've seen some really beautiful work with mammoth molar.

If we're lucky, Xplorer will post his work in this thread. :)

There sure are lot of Elephants still being poached. "A" doesn't necessarily equal "B", but ?

Are the Russians Canadians, & Nordic States really sitting on that amount of mammoth bones & fossil teeth?

JRinFL wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 22, 2021 12:23 pm

Are the Russians Canadians, & Nordic States really sitting on that amount of mammoth bones & fossil teeth?

I honestly have no idea. I just know that you can buy mammoth for scales, but at reasonably high prices.

https://www.makermaterialsupply.com/sea ... &q=mammoth

You only see it on high end customs, so I don't know how much is really being used. And a mammoth is a big animal, so I imagine that a relatively small number of mammoth skeletons would yield a fairly large amount of material, relative to the global demand for mammoth knife scales.

You and I can only grow two sets of teeth. Mammoths were good for six sets of teeth, so it's not rare (relatively speaking) to find teeth without the rest of the animal to go with it. Mammoth teeth are also popular for handgun grips.

Interesting reading I found via google: https://www.fossilera.com/pages/about-mammoth-molars

I guess due to melting permafrost there is just a bunch of mammoth bits coming available. Way more than I would have expected.

Fossilized ivory of any kind is treated legally differently than regular ivory. The same is most likely true of mammoth teeth. It looks pretty good, to me. I wonder if we could get a Ladybug from Spyderco with this? Or a Manbug with bolsters?

Doc Dan wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 22, 2021 11:46 pm

Fossilized ivory of any kind is treated legally differently than regular ivory. The same is most likely true of mammoth teeth. It looks pretty good, to me. I wonder if we could get a Ladybug from Spyderco with this? Or a Manbug with bolsters?

Santa Fe stoneworks does Spyderco knives in mammoth molar.

I don't have any more to add about how rare it is or isn't than what's already been shared above.

It's definitely expensive. The pieces of mammoth tooth I used on the knife pictured below were $80.00. That's a ton for a material that isn't made into a handle yet. Lots of complete knives cost less than $80.00.

Because it's fossilized, it's a pain to work with even though it's stabilized. The layers you see that create the visually interesting pattern are dramatically different in density. This leads to easily fracturing the scales along those lines of separation and also creates problems with deflection when drilling. Some of the layers are hard like quartz and some are nearly as soft as stabilized wood. Epoxying the material to a liner for support and using carbide bits are a couple of the precautionary steps needed to work with this material.

For me it's a special material that deserves to be treated with respect. I'm extremely careful to protect the material during the process. I bought these 2 pieces of mammoth tooth 2 years before I was finally ready to make a knife I considered "worthy" of the handle material. I feel like it's an honor to be able to carry this ancient artifact as a functional part of my knife. It's my favorite knife in my collection and will finally be going on it's first wilderness trip in 2 weeks. (to the John Muir Wilderness out of Mammoth Lakes)

This scales are absolutely stunning! I wouldn’t touch Ivory without being 100% sure of its provenance but there is no issue here.