Removing ivories

[cnelk]

As we near the upcoming elk hunting season, Just a reminder to remember to to remove the ivories from your elk.
BOTH cows and bulls have ivories!

Try to remove them as soon as you are done field processing your elk. The longer they set in the head, the harder they are to remove.

A deep cut on each side of the tooth and hefty knock on the tooth with your knife butt or a stick will dislodge it from the jaw.
Wiggle it out and place it in your pocket

Once back at camp, you can boil them to remove any meat/flesh

A good way to polish them is to place them in a brass tumbler with medium used for reloading.

[Lefty]

What do most of you do with the ivories?
I kept the first few from elk I shot I shot with a rifle,.. there still in a drawer My wife offered to make me a ring with the first bull I killed,.. I dont even wear my weding band, So I didnt need a ring

Lets see some pics

[>>>---WW---->]

here is a pic of a necklace I made for my grandson

[Buglemaster]

I did some horn handles knives a couple years ago with inlaid ivories in the butt. I thought they turned out great.

[Elkaddict]

Keep the ideas coming, I have some that are just sitting around. Need to display them somehow. Nice necklace and knife, good work.

[easeup]

I hope this thread takes off.
I have a purple bag full of them. I don't do jewelry and don't know what to do with them.

[otcWill]

Easeup, you can take them to most western jewelers and they will give you store credit. Great way to knock off some Christmas shopping for free!

[Triplebhunters]

Great thread Cnelk. I will have to learn how this is done this year. WW and Buglemaster nice work.

[cnelk]

I have a purple bag full of them.

Crown purple?

[ElkNut1]

Yep, like cnelk we too take a stick 10"-12" long the thickness of a cigar & smack the back of stick like driving it into the ground with a rock in an angel to pop those ivories loose after the cuts on both sides, once loose you still have to pull & twist & sometimes knife a way a bit of tissue. Good luck all!

ElkNut1

[easeup]

Crown purple?

nothing else needed said

[Slow1]

If you use the stick like Elknut describes and hit it straight back like you trying to drive the ivories down their throat they will pop right out.
I will caution you to put a paper towel or something in the elks throat or you can lose one down there they will pop out that well.
I had to play the part of an ear nose and throat Dr the first time I did this.

[CrazyElkHunter]

I also make the cut on both sides, then take the pointed end of knife and push it straight down into the gum line along the flat side of tooth moving it back and forth a few times to get to the base of the tooth. Do the inside 1st, and when you do the same on the outside, just push down on the handle and the tooth pops right out without having to hit it. If you are using a folding knife, make sure it is locked. I use a solid blade/handle knife, which gives me more leverage. Average extraction for both teeth is under a minute.

[Vids]

Question for you guys: I forgot to grab the ivories from my bull last year. I was just out scouting the same area this weekend and I found his skull, but all the front teeth were no longer attached. (Not pulled out, it looks like the front top of the jaw is separate somehow) I'm no expert on skull anatomy, is it possible the front teeth would still be on the ground somewhere after it decomposed? Is there a separate piece of jaw that holds the front teeth?

I wasn't sure which teeth were the ivories so I pulled all of them and brought them home, a little internet searching showed me that I did not get them since the upper canines were no longer attached to the skull. Just wondering if it's worth another look to scour the ground there and see if they are lying around.

[cnelk]

You wont find them if they arent in the skull.
Birds love to fly away with them!

I left a couple on my picnic table once and about an hour later they were gone...

[JimKirk]

i use a knife to cute away some gum tissue and then a place a hatchet at an angle on the back of the ivory near the gumline and hit that with a rock. Pops them out pretty easy.

[Madison COunty]

I did some horn handles knives a couple years ago with inlaid ivories in the butt. I thought they turned out great.

That's a awesome knife! Do you have any new project pictures?

[Buglemaster]

One of my hunting buddies killed his first elk this year. He's waiting patiently for me to put them in the knife I made for him as a Christmas present. I'll post a pic when I finish it.

[Swede]

Another way to easily remove the ivories is to make the two knife cuts then pop them out with a pair of pliers. If you have a Leatherman this is a quick solution in the field. Be careful as you can mar the ivories if your pliers slip while you are putting on pressure.

[>>>---WW---->]

I have sold most of mine. Over $1000 worth! Here are a couple of things I'd like to say about some of the post on here thus far.

First of all, don't boil them. It can remove a lot of the color or stain from them. That color is very important if selling them to jewelry makers. The better the color, the higher price you will get. Just let them dry for about a day and you can scrape most of the skin tissue off of the root. Be careful not to touch the tooth itself, just the root. To polish them, just place them in your pocket and pack them around until they look good. This could take quite awhile.

Secondly, try not to use pliers to pull them with. This can leave tiny scratch marks.

[Still Hunter]

It's enough of a chore saving my own teeth.

[ishy]

This remided me when I got my first bull wich was also my first archery kill, we were butchering it in the back yard. After finishing just about everything I was in the house cleaning up and heard some crows picking the left overs. Didn't think anything of it at the time, but when I went back out the ivories were gone! Dirty buggers stole my first set.

[Washington Wapiti]

After your elk hunt, soak your head (the elk's, not your own) in a small pond while out deer hunting for 2 weeks. This loosens things up considerably. No pulling or tugging required!