All About Pocket Knives

Here' a question maybe Hukk or one of you other guy's know. On the twentyfifth anniversary Bulldog Ivory Knives, did they use mastodon ivory or elephant ivory? How can you tell the difference?

As far as I know it was all Mastodon Ivory, how they can tell it was Mastodon vs. Mammoth is beyond me and there was more than 1 species of now extinct mammoth.

To be able to tell the difference between elephant and mammoth ivories you would need to have access to a scanning electron microscope. A real shame, I used to have access to 3 of them. The best was a Leo 982 that used a Schottky field-emission source. It had a nice feature that allowed me to draw a line accross the sample in the monitor and I could read all the different spikes that indicated what elements the sample contained, great when looking for contaminents. Scanning electron microscopy is quite an art with several types of SEM's available.

The California Dept. of Fish and Game had a site, but they must have moved it, my link no longer works.

Here is an article from Stanford, in the middle and bottom of the page shows examples of a Pygmy Mammoth vs. an African Elephant. (pygmy mammoth, is that an oxymoron like military intelligence )

http://aic.stanford.edu/jaic/articles/j ... 3-003.html

WARNING, somewhat sleep inducing, real dry technical reading.

Hukk; Thanks for the quick reply. Besides reading the Ivory textures under a microscope, what about the actual colors of the ivories. Don't the mastodon and mammoth ivories appear to be more of a creamy tan color as opposed to the white and off white of the elephant ivories?


P.S. My favorite oxymoron is "Jumbo Shrimp"

MITCH RAPP wrote: Hukk; Thanks for the quick reply. Besides reading the Ivory textures under a microscope, what about the actual colors of the ivories. Don't the mastodon and mammoth ivories appear to be more of a creamy tan color as opposed to the white and off white of the elephant ivories?


P.S. My favorite oxymoron is "Jumbo Shrimp"

I almost did put Jumbo Shrimp, but King George was on my mind.

Mammoth Ivory can be just about any color as long as that mineral is in the soil. I have some knives with mammoth ivory that is absolutely snow white. Here is a picture of a 5 Blade Bulldog Anglo Saxon and a 3 blade Bulldog Anglo Saxon customized by Michael Prater of Painted Pony. Hard to get work done by him now, he is backlogged about 1 year. So, here is a picture of a Black Lip Pearl on a 3 blade Bulldog Anglo Saxon.
I threw that in there just because it is so rare to get Black Lip Pearl that is 3 1/2 inches long.

I have some Mammoth ivory in the shop that is a nice shade of tan and some more from Banyan Bay that is snow white and has a COA and guarantee that it is indeed mammoth ivory. I also have some that is gray.

Here is a picture of a Prototype 5 blade Bulldog Anglo Saxon with interior Mammoth Ivory, it is a strange color and I think near the bark, but a unique and beautiful piece.

Some time in the future I may have some scrimshaw wor done on that snow white mammth ivory.

So the color of the Bark Ivory and interior ivory are influenced by the minerals in the soil and how long they were in the soil.

Hukk; WOW! Those are some of the nicest examples of mastodon ivory I have ever seen and the black lip pearl aint to shabby either.

Thank You! Here is a couple Prototypes that is not in the book and a couple that are. Bark and some with a lot of charactor.

Aw heck Lets see some Ivories, everybody post your ivory, I love to look.

I do believe these are some of the best Bulldog knives ever made. All of the crack (charactor) are 100% stable. Some of these have been posted before.

These should show a wide range in Mammoth or Mastodon Ivory as Bulldog calls their ancient Ivory.

DAMN! "Mastodon Envy"

warning... those knives might cause one to masto-bate!

You know it causes sumthin' real bad...'cause they're all dead, and buried in the snow.

Real beauties you have there Hukk the Finn!!


Bill

El Lobo wrote:You know it causes sumthin' real bad...'cause they're all dead, and buried in the snow.

Real beauties you have there Hukk the Finn!!


Bill

Thanks Bill, funny, I used that nickname back in the late 60's early 70's. Actually I should say my coach came up with that, surprised me when I stepped in the ring.

Hi Folks,
I have a 25th anniversary large bulldog stockman with interior mastodon ivory handles. They are almost pure white,similar to the presentation trapper shown. My question is will the ivory darken with age or handling? I would like it to have it with a more"antique" look. Any suggestions?
Jerry

It would be my GUESS that anything used to make the ivory look more aged would be VERY harmful to the steel. I would not try it without removing the handles first.

Maybe, maybe, lemon oil. It would probably depend on how clean and slightly dry the ivory is.

JMO.

Bill

Here's one of my favorites, a bd anglo prototype in mastodon ivory.
Jerry

jands40 wrote:Here's one of my favorites, a bd anglo prototype in mastodon ivory.
Jerry

I like that one also. That one is the Celebrated Dirk Anglo-Saxon, it is the one with a clip blade but what is really unique is the placement of the bar shield.

Is that one 1999, I can't see the date on the tang?

The Eagle etch, Celebrated Anglo-Saxon, New Orleans Knife, and Under My Wings Everything Prospers (all spear blades made first in 1998) all had large spear blades and the Bar Shield had a different placement than the Celebrated Dirk. See pictures for difference.

It's a 2000 model.
Jerry

jands40 wrote:It's a 2000 model.
Jerry

Thanks,
I was just cuious, the Celebrated Dirk came out first in 1999, all the others with the spear blade came out in 1998.

They also made a series in 2002 like the one pictured below. Almost all were one of a kind and did not go into production. Same with 2000, most of those did not go into production, if memory serves me right.

My God,Hukk, Those knives are just just beautiful.

richied wrote:My God,Hukk, Those knives are just just beautiful.

Thanks, I got lucky and purchased most of a guy's collection and I have been adding to it ever since. I see some here and there, hard to pick a favorite though.

Very nice for Dogs.........................

Thanks for the pics Hukk.