Restoration of walrus ivory handle
 

I have a Balkan yatagan that has walrus ivory scales on the grip. It is 18th century, so the ivory is pretty old, and has warped away from the tang and cracked. My intention to some day remove the scales and at least stabilize the rust of the tang underneath was precipitated the other day when it fell off the shelf and knocked off one of the ears (it had already split from the grip, so the fall just pulled it off of the pin holding it).

So, my question is, how should I go about restoring this handle, assuming that I can? I have seen Artzi's very good thread on restoring a shamshir with horn grips, so I have an idea of how to deal with the band around the tang, and the tang underneath. I was wondering if there was a way to safely flatten out the ivory scales again, as Artzi had done with the horn scales of the shamshir. I think that I can fill the cracks with epoxy once the handle is reassembled, and perhaps paint it to match the ivory, but fixing the warping sort of has me stumped.

I will get some pictures taken and post this week-end, time permitting.

Hello Marc and welcome into the restoration dilemma world. Walrus is much harder than horn and do not soften with heating or in any other way. One of the major problems with walrus ivory is its structure of softer inner core and harder outer sector. Unfortunately they shrink with age at a different rates hence walrus handles are usually distorted. If the distortion is not too bad you can try to sand its inner side so it will fit the tang. If you are not in a great hurry, bring it to the meeting in Baltimore and we will look at it.

I've seen terribly warped walrus ivory. It would indeed be interesting if there is a cure for this. Some have claimed success in dewarping ivory by oiling it, after which is allegedly resumes toward its original shape, but I have no real information on this process nor on its efficacy. I don't know if a special oil or special handling are needed.

Thanks for the warning, Arzti. I am not in any hurry to do this wrong, certainly, so I will bring the sword up to Baltimore as you suggest. It sounds like the best thing to do is just stabilize the rust underneath, and live with the warped scales.

Hi Marks,
In a French book I have referred already several time in this forum about ivory and the maintenance of ivory pieces, it says that ivory can be reshaped in its original shape with the following method : immerge completely the object in a bath made of water + one fifth of nitric acid. Leave it in for three or four days. At this stage, the ivory looks rather translucent and has become amazingly plastic.
Reshape it and let it dry. It will recover its color and opacity. Do not leave it in hot water, as it would soften again.
I have never tried that process and do not know if walrus ivory react exactly as elephant ivory.
May be Arzti can confirm this process.
Regards

Michel

Re-shaping ivory
 

Never heard about it and I am going to try it on walrus ivory. It is great if it works and I will let you now