Anyone like ivory grips?

[lawandorder]

Fancy grips, tooled leather, Ranger buckles,........

.........are some of the things many of us remember from the gun folks of our youth that we watched in movies, on television, or knew in person. They unknowingly passed on to us an appreciation of these things. Lets hope these things never pass out of appreciation by folks who enjoy firearms.

Plastic Blah! (Not elitist, just an opinion by one old man)

 

[randy_68]

I have this set on my Ruger MKI .22 that my dad made and mom scrimshawed . made from elephant ivory back when you could buy it. Dad bought a tusk and made several sets of grips, jewelry boxes, pendants, belt buckles etc. Personalised with my initials on one side..

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h81/randy_68/Ruger MK1/HPIM2572.jpg

 

[model3sw]

EXCELLENT thread. VERY impressive, VERY beautiful stocks. I have never come upon an original set of S&W factory ivory stocks.

Ivory, to me, is the premier classic type stock for timeless beauty. I never much cared for mother of pearl. To me, pearl was darn near useless for anything other than cosmetic purposes. The slightest "knock" (God forbid if dropped) was the end of your "pearls". Don't jump on me, please, just my personal preference about mother of pearl. Genuine ivory is ultimate. (don't you just hate when you search the web for "ivory" stocks or grips and the banner or buy line leads you to believe the item for sale is "ivory" then you have to read the entire offering to find in the last sentence (usually in small print) they are faux or just "Ivory colored" ?

I thought I had nice collection and now I am humbled. In my limited knowledge and study of ivory, I had passed on questionable grips (whether ivory, horn, or bone) over the years because I really could not distinguish between elephant ivory and other similar substances. I had purchased many an old revolver with bone grips. As a mis-identification of ivory (later finding out that it is factually something other than elephant ivory) could be a very expensive lesson, many times I would err to the side of caution. The (then) old timers I learned from (now I "ARE" a old timer) used only a visual examination and perhaps the hot pin test on the back side in the beginning days of polymers, albeit there had been 50+ years of experience in their eyes when visually examining.

Please recommend a reliable book or study material on ivory, e.g. types, cellular structure, etc. to be able to accurately determine if genuine elephant ivory or other (walrus, hippo etc.)

Now I have to go back to work to buy some nice ivory stocks Thanks guys.

 

[keith44spl]

Ivory is the natural material of choice.....



Wish I could carve like this...



1911s just look right with ivory,




Even a lit'l Mammoth Ivory to boot,






.
And the best for last...












.

 

[Hondo44]

Ivory is the natural material of choice.....

Very unique way to make a New Frontier appear like a 1st gen Flat Top Target Model.