Artificial Ivory

[Chris Bayley]

From another thread 'Waymer' asked

Just out of curiousity. What is artificial ivory made of and how is it manufactured?

Artificial / Imitation Ivory has been around for well over a hundred years so is nothing new

What is it - well it looks a bit like ivory but is made by humans rather than elephants

There are a number of different imitation ivories available the most commonly used being a polyester resin that marketed by GPS Agencies, Chichester UK. They are now owned by a US company I believe.

http://www.ivoryalternative.com/

It can be brought in sheets and also a wide range of sizes in Rod 15mm up to 125mm maybe more. In addition to the base ivory colour there are a couple of slightly darker ones partially mixed in to give a more realistic effect. Early versions looked like badly mixed paint and were very brittle but they changed the mix to include a flexible resin making it easier to turn.

They can also supply a material in sheet and rod form called 'Gremolith' (sometimes called 'Galolith' / 'Galalith') which is Casein (Milk protein) which has a sort of grain running through it. And also an Acetate sheet with a straight 'vague' grain running through it

This is also available direct from the manufacturers but the quantities required for an order are quite large

Gremolith Italia Srl
Via Lavoro E Industria,1200
25030 Rudiano
Tel.: (+39) 0307060482

Formerly several other materials were available – most commonly used and probably the most familiar was ‘Catalin’ – Plain ivory coloured rods from a Phenol-Formaldehyde 'plastic'. It goes a rather dark orange colour with age. Horrible smell when turning.

Another resin rod manufactured by Dr Rashig in Germany called ‘vigopas’ had a random white grain in it. Very brittle and believed to be carcinogenic (is there anything that isn’t).

The general name 'Ivorine' covers a number of imitations that are based on plant (cellulose) materials e.g. cotton. Two examples of these are ‘Rhodoid’ (Celluloid-Acetate) and ‘Xylonite’ (Cellulose Nitrate) manufactured by fusing very thin sheets of two different colours together and then slicing them and rejoining them to give a grain effect. Rhodoid’s is very straight but ‘Xylonite’ had a wavy effect making it look quite realistic and a set mounted in it almost fooled the experts at one of the London Auction Houses. Only available in sheets up to a maximum thickness of 19mm. Mounts are made by cutting disks from the sheet – longer ones by fusing several disks together using cellulose thinners or MEK Solvent.

There was a company still producing Rhodoid a few years back but I have lost their address (think it was either near Clermont Ferrand or Lyon in France). I guess they are still in business as a quick google search found jewellry made from it.

Xylonite is still available to order but needs careful transportation and storage as it is by it’s nature highly inflammable. One of it's early uses was as a substitute for ivory billiard balls - looked fine, worked fine but had a bad habit of exploding on contact with other billiard balls which was a distinct disadvantage. Just imagine the consequences of the end of the bass drone dropping off and landing on a hard floor in a crowded session

A quick search on google turned up BXL plastics who do (or did) manufacture a similar material to Xylonite under the trade name of 'Ivoride' - I will investigate this and update the post

There is of course also Nylon and Acetal (polypenco/delrin) which is plain white much favoured by our 'eastern makers'

None of these have the characteristic Schreger lines of elephant or mammoth ivory.

Natural substitutes from the plant world are the Tagua (Palm) nut or woods such as box

Chris

[misterpatrick]

Thanks for the very informative post Chris. Andreas Rogge uses some sort of artificial horn in many of his sets. Also has an interesting look to it as it is much darker in color and contains lots of veining.

[pancelticpiper]

I really like the "palm nut" which several Highland pipe makers are using now. I have a set mounted in it. What I really like is what it DOESN'T look like: it doesn't look like plastic, it doesn't look like wood. I've always hated the look of plastic on pipes, and I've never been a fan of wood-on-wood pipes (blackwood and maple for example). The palm nut mounts are rock-hard but not brittle. They have all sorts of subtle interesting varigations of colour.
Here's a photo of a painstaking reproduction of a 19th century MacDougall set by perhaps the best Highland pipemaker today, Dave Atherton. His set is ebony mounted with palm nut.

[waymer]

Thanks for the info Chris,

looked fine, worked fine but had a bad habit of exploding on contact

Man what if you used it for a popping valve or the lower mount on a chanter.....
Kaaaaaaaablouie

[MikeyLikesIt]

Palm nut is great stuff, but a bit tricky to work with as far as getting pieces that are big enough for medium to large sized mounts. It's VERY hard, buffs very nicely, has the look of aged ivory, and as an added bonus smells quite a bit like maple syrup pancakes when being worked. The set I'm building for myself is being mounted in this stuff.

[Charlie Skelton]

Regarding the old ivorine, I remember it as being made from nitrocellulose with a plasticiser, set fire to a ping pong ball ( outside) and you will get the general impression. Must be exciting to turn!!!

[Douglas]

Yes, the ivory nut has a very nice look.

I am having a new ¾ set (Taylor style concert pitch) made by Michael Hubbard (and Mike “MikeyLikesIt”) using the palm nut for mounts. Hopefully Michael and Mike will be able to get larger pieces and perfect their skills in working with it by the time they make my set. Still a few years out since I placed my order a few months ago.

I chose the use of palm nut based on Richard’s set of Highland pipes he is showing.

[fel bautista]

Is Southern California going to corner the market on Michael H's pipes??

[pancelticpiper]

Wow Michael Hubbert Taylor-style pipes mounted in palm nut!!! They will look fantastic. Going with silver-coloured metalwork? Resonators on all three drones perhaps? Folded bass bar? It will be awsome.