Bone vs Fossilized Walrus Ivory

[Lane Pryce]

Which one is harder?Tonally is the ivory more like bone or somewhere between bone and MOP?I really like the looks of the marbeled ivory,especially if the colors contrast those of the mandolin it is on. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif Lp

[Keith Newell]

I bought some fossilized walrus ivory a while back and have had it stored in a box with my bone blanks. I went to get a nut out and all the FWI is terribly warped yet all my bone blanks are just as I left them. When hitting a file on both types it seams that the ivory is a bit softer.
Keith

[Michael Lewis]

All ivory is tooth with a harder outer enamel layer. Some can be less hard, but generally ivory is more consistant in hardness than bone. Bone can be very hard to fairly soft depending on the condition of the animal it was taken from, but tends to be more brittle than ivory. Some fossil ivory is very old (mastodon, mammoth)and can be hard but some is rather plastic and will deform from string pressure.