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You can tell Ivory just by looking at it closely. It has a unique grain.
 
jason said:
You can tell Ivory just by looking at it closely. It has a unique grain.
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Some synthetics look unbelievable and close. I would ALMOST bet I could show you one with a nice finish and fool 95% of people.
 
I haven't tried the blacklight thing....but I don't think that would work....

If it does, that would be fun and maybe quite useful....depending on what other white materials might also glow....
 
crawfish said:
Some synthetics look unbelievable and close. I would ALMOST bet I could show you one with a nice finish and fool 95% of people.
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I wouldn't be surprised, but I haven't seen any. I'm sure they could make a synthetic that would glow in the dark as well.
 
Remember the glow in the dark pool tables and balls? I bet if someone with an Ivory cue played on one of those tables, they would know.

What a joke those tables are.
 
There are all kinds of ivory from all parts of the world. Some has more grain or less , some is more 'solid' and some more translucent. It's almost impossible to be 100% be just looking. Synthetics can replicate almost every variation of ivory.

The only true test I'm aware of is the age old hot pin test. Basically , ivory is extremely resistant to heat so if you heat up a pin and poke it , the pin will basically do nothing to the Ivory. In pretty much all the synthetics I know of , it will melt pretty easily into it. The smells are considerably different as well. Obviously you have to try it in an obscure place and it's probably not practical in every application but it does work.

My 2 cents.
 
I guess the real question is if you can't tell by 'feel' and you can't tell by looking then does it really matter if it's real. ;)
 
plshrk22 said:
My question is, how in the hell does customs know its ivory in a cue then?
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Usually cause someone 'trying' to do the right thing get's bent over by them. :(

And/or people unaware and stating it for insurance reasons.

And because they can do what they want , they id the Gub ment.
 
sometimes

i have a mineralight cabinet made with a long wave and short wave ultraviolit light in it. it is used for to determine if certain types of gemstones are genuine or imitation. example, some diamonds are fluorescent, those that are, are always brighter under long wave than short wave. just the opposite for most imitations. now for the ivory i have about 30 pieces of carved ivory in my store for sale. i just put 10 in the machine. results 4 lit up, 6 stayed dull. so testing ivory with a ultraviolit light, busted. chuck starkey
 
PVC (without proper stabilizers) will glow under a blacklight

Even properly stabilized, burnishing creates heat that will degrade PVC

Degraded PVC will glow under a blacklight


I'm sure there are other things out there, I just know this because I deal with PVC daily.
-Jon
 
Blacklight Ivory

I just ran a quick test at home. i wouldn't say Ivory glows just turns snow white under the light I also ran the test with LBM, Micarta. LBM was a grayish white and Micarta was a dark tan.

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RRfireblade said:
There are all kinds of ivory from all parts of the world. Some has more grain or less , some is more 'solid' and some more translucent. It's almost impossible to be 100% be just looking. Synthetics can replicate almost every variation of ivory.

The only true test I'm aware of is the age old hot pin test. Basically , ivory is extremely resistant to heat so if you heat up a pin and poke it , the pin will basically do nothing to the Ivory. In pretty much all the synthetics I know of , it will melt pretty easily into it. The smells are considerably different as well. Obviously you have to try it in an obscure place and it's probably not practical in every application but it does work.

My 2 cents.
Click to expand...

In my experience Synthetic when touched with a hot pin will melt and brown around the edges, Ivory will turn black no melting just my .05
 
RRfireblade said:
I guess the real question is if you can't tell by 'feel' and you can't tell by looking then does it really matter if it's real. ;)
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It matters in price. I'm sure no one would be happy to spend a bunch of money and find out that the ivory in their cue is really plastic. :)
 
crawfish said:
Some synthetics look unbelievable and close. I would ALMOST bet I could show you one with a nice finish and fool 95% of people.
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I own a pile of tusks and know alot about ivory and your right some of it you cant tell unless you cut the same piece a different way then its possible to see it isnt real, in otherwords the grain in the fake stuff in one directional to replicate ivory but cut a different way it looks like fake ivory,

i think the black light thing would work, i just dont own a black light, i have about 10 -12 tusks, if i ever get a light i'll find it out
 
Poolhalljunkie said:
In my experience Synthetic when touched with a hot pin will melt and brown around the edges, Ivory will turn black no melting just my .05
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the smell is the best way to tell doing it like this, or when you cut it. nothing smells like ivory, bone is close, enamial on your teeth is similar its a horrible smell.
 
I always just rub some chalk on it. Ivory won't hold chalk; You can wipe it off. Maybe some of the new synthetic stuff won't either. I don't know.
 
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