What’s faux ivory?
Not ivory. So what’s it made of?
Plastic? Does it have much strength?
Plastic, I would assume it is usually made with something similar to PVC. It is used a lot on GHBs for Ferrules, when I had a set it was on them. I don’t really know how strong it is.
Alternative ivory is a polyester with some sort of filling that gives it that swirly grain. It’s pretty strong but not dimensionally stable (it shrinks). It’s good for rings as Avery said, but no good for making instruments.
Thanks
“Faux Ivory” A.K.A. “Mother of Toilet Seat”
Regards,
H
It’s for these pearls of wisdom that the participation of experienced players like yourself, Harry, is appreciated on C&F.
what?!
fresh air?!
Laugh all you want, but our insatiable lust for faux ivory flute rings has driven toilet seats to the brink of extinction.
This, of course is more serious for the ladies than the men as we never knew what to do with them anyway.
Doc
Does that explain the splash heard from your loo for the number 2?
It comes from faux-elephants.
I thought it came from Foxes! 
HA!! A local box-player has said his weapon is made of that.
For a moment I thought Andrew was back.
I don’t know what the composition of Faux Ivory is, but if it is anything like what they used to call “art ivory”, which was widely used for ferrule rings and mounts, drone caps and chanter soles on bagipes, it will turn a horrid brown color over the years as the plasticizers migrates to the surface and oxydizes.
My Lawrie practice chanter, which I bought in 1940, had an “art ivory” mouthpiece but the ferrule ring and sole were (supposedly ) ivory. The mouthpiece turned a yellowish tan within a year or so, the sole split apart and was replaced with an Art Ivory one, which rapidly turned into the color of a brown ale. It may not look so great, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder and this little instrument has accompanied me wherever I went ever since, including the jungles of the Southwest Pacific. I guarantee it will not split!
I believe that the ferrule ring is actually bone because it has a grain almost like wood…qute different from ivory’s typical pattern. And I wonder why instrument makers don’t use bone for this purpose now that ivory is verboten? Peter Noy offers flutes with blow edge inserts of bone, walrus ivory from the tusks which these mammals leave on Arctic beaches where the congregate … both of which are legal
Off topic but I can’t help but notice.
Did you serve in the Pacific during the war?
I too have wondered why bone is not used more. A friend of mine who makes fiddles likes to use bone instead of ebony or rosewood (or plastic) for his tailpieces and sometimes other bits, like the button and nut. He uses pieces cut from large beef bones that have been well hardened by prolonged dog-chewing! They look great. For a smokey looking alternative, horn was sometimes used in the Baroque period, and has indeed been used by some modern instrument makers. I know for a fact that Jonathan Shoreland uses horn on his Pastoral Oboes.
Caveat for horn: the same little buggers that eat your violin bow hair will happily snack on horn as well. Faux ivory is safe, but I suspect it burns pretty well. Cheers,
Rob
Aanvil asks if I was a playing my indestructable"art ivory" mounted practice pipe chanter in the “jungles of the Southwest Pacific” during WWII.
Yowza! I was with Fleet Airwing 17 and spent nearly 2 years there (from March 1944 to January 1946.) We flew shore- based patrol bombers (Catalinas) in New Guinea and the Admiralties, then “Privateers” (Single-tail Navy version of the B-24) from Morotai in the Moluccas and Mindoro and Luzon in the Philippines.
No problem with keeping the humidity up … just keeping the mildew off. And no trouble finding time to practice because there was absolutely nothing else to do. Liberty? Leave? Fuhgedaboudit!!
It’s really Nauga tusk, which is a by-product of the merciless slaughter of the Nauga for its colorful hide.
With best regards,
Steve Mack
Peter Noy uses buffalo horn in his flute making upon request.
I have a nice boxwood Boehm headjoint thus adorned.
Doc