Ivory testing

s'portplayer

s'portplayer

Midnight Rambler
Silver Member
After an unproductive search, I'm here to ask the experts a question about Ivory testing.

We've all heard the stories of how brittle Ivory is and how it won't stand up over time, especially as a ferrule. Is this just conjecture or is there some factual information to back this up? So, I started wondering if anyone has ever compared Ivory, in somewhat of a scientific way against other popular products.

One image that sticks in my mind, is seeing big bull elephants fighting and using their tusks. I know some break, but they do alot of hard hitting, to have "brittle" ivory not break or atleast last for a long time before they break.



Jeffery Roblow
 
> I've been an ivory ferrule user for almost 20 years,and have only cracked one,and that was because I let my tip wear down too far,and use them without the pad. I can and do break with my Schon,which is certainly where the crack came from.

As long as you have a reasonably decent tip on it,and take care to not let it get hot or cold,not many people can break an ivory ferrule playing pool. Just my opinion,Tommy D.
 
Tommy-D said:
> I've been an ivory ferrule user for almost 20 years,and have only cracked one,and that was because I let my tip wear down too far,and use them without the pad. I can and do break with my Schon,which is certainly where the crack came from.

As long as you have a reasonably decent tip on it,and take care to not let it get hot or cold,not many people can break an ivory ferrule playing pool. Just my opinion,Tommy D.
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These are my feelings too.

I used to break with ivory ferruled shafts, until I went to OB, and never had any issues.
 
There are a lot of cuemakers on here, but for the most part they are not engineers. In using Ivory in the construction of my Black Heart Cues over 23 years I can tell you that if the ivory is well seasoned it is nearly as strong as the plastics used for the same applications. HOWEVER I always tell my customers the prices for Ivory are 4 times that of more modern plastics. For me....I always have Ivory...JER
 
If you look back to the not so distant past, the damn balls were made of Ivory! Clacking together and banging around...

Ivory is wonderful material. However, like wood, if not seasoned properly and cared for during use, it will crack.

So do diamonds.

If you want to break it, we will find a way to break it! If you care for it, it will last for your life time.

Yes I use Ivory, and yes I break with it too. Never cracked a ferrule myself...
 
s'portplayer said:
After an unproductive search, I'm here to ask the experts a question about Ivory testing.

We've all heard the stories of how brittle Ivory is and how it won't stand up over time, especially as a ferrule. Is this just conjecture or is there some factual information to back this up? So, I started wondering if anyone has ever compared Ivory, in somewhat of a scientific way against other popular products.

One image that sticks in my mind, is seeing big bull elephants fighting and using their tusks. I know some break, but they do alot of hard hitting, to have "brittle" ivory not break or atleast last for a long time before they break.


First you have to understand that there are different types of Ivory. It is very difficult to gather information since many of the famous Turners or Carvers are no longer alive. Ivory is graded first of all as Hard or Soft then it is graded as Clear Mark Free, Sand Checked or Barky. The photo's below are from a 1928 Brunswick Catalog!!!


There are two main types of elephant ivory, hard and soft. Hard ivory generally comes from elephants in the western half of Africa, soft ivory from those in the eastern half. A hard ivory tusk is darker in colour and is more slender and straighter in form than a soft tusk. Internally, a hard tusk has more colour and is more brittle than a soft tusk, which is an opaque white and has a somewhat fibrous texture.

The grading of soft and hard Ivory can be found at the link below.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/298285/ivory

1.jpg

2.jpg

3.jpg


So in the end know what you are buying, and the soft Ivory is proffered.
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I've put a lot of ivory ferrules on cues, and only had one crack. It was 1/2" long, and 10mm diameter, and the guy broke with it for a long time.

+What Blackheart said.... except Ivory is actually STRONGER than some of the ferrules out there.
 
there is deff a misconception about ivory when it comes to cuemaking. i too have only had one crack. in about 12 years. it was 1.25'' long and i broke with it constantly.

i do not feel it is brittle or "hard to work with" at all.

i think its just to build the myth of being "expensive"
 
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