[Janel]

Seven Wonders - the curled leaf is pink ivory wood
Maple Leaf is pink ivory wood

The wood I have come across is dense and hard, but nice to carve. Wood that has nice chatoyance may look better when carved to enhance its character rather than carving lots of details. It also may not be the best wood for tiny details, though I have not approached it with detailed parts in mind. I enjoyed the carving of these two pieces.

Janel

[Toothy]

Hi Janel
Pink ivory appears to be the sapwood of what I know as red ivory. As you said it is hard. It carves well but due to its darkness detail doesn't show well. One of its best traits is the fact that it can be polished on a buff using the wood's own wax/oils. It takes on a lovely shine. Before visiting relatives in the UK a number of years ago I made a 'worry bead' in the shape of a 'fatcat' which was polished on the buff. Each of the good folk who hosted us received one.
Sorry I can't find a picture at the moment - they were taken before digital and when found will need to be scanned in . Will include my dragon hatching as well.
Red ivory remains one of my favourite woods to carve.
Toothy

[Janel]

Hi Toothy,

Have you seen those pieces after a long time? Does the color of the wood fade to brown with exposure to light? I have some, and it does fade. Not good pieces to put out under display lights.

Janel

[Mike Ruslander]

http://en.wikipedia....wiki/Pink_Ivory

I've used Pink Ivory for folding knife handle slabs. It's very beautiful. It does darken with age.

[boggiecarving]

Beautiful wood. I've searched for it a couple of times and it doesn't seem to be on lists of the wood offered for sale. I'm sure it is just haven't found it yet. Pretty leaf Janel. Because of the stated wood characteristics I'm wondering how you finished it.

[Mike Ruslander]

boggiecarving, on Jan 13 2009, 09:27 AM, said:

Beautiful wood. I've searched for it a couple of times and it doesn't seem to be on lists of the wood offered for sale. I'm sure it is just haven't found it yet. Pretty leaf Janel. Because of the stated wood characteristics I'm wondering how you finished it.

Try here:
http://www.woodcraft...x?familyid=4025

[Mike Ruslander]

Janel, your work is so beautiful.

[Toothy]

Janel
I haven't noticed any darkening of my dragon which was carved in 2005 but then red ivory is very dark any way.
Love your maple leaf
Boggiecarving
Red ivory comes from a small tree that appears to be full of twists and turns so that large pieces are difficult to come by. Here in Cape Town it is one of the expensive scarcer indigenous woods. I saw it advertised in a UK mag yrs ago but due to scarcity(??) was quickly withdrawn.
Toothy

PS Mike Thanks for the link. It confirms what I said above.

[Janel]

The maple leaf piece was at a show, and did have a color change. It was a rich red at first, but showed some brown upon its return. I have had a little red leaf on display at two or more shows, and it also has changed some color towards the less red. That is frustrating. Maybe your deep red wood is a stronger color that will not be so influenced by the light.

Janel

[musket]

Pink ivory isn't that uncommon on the market, but tends to be expensive. I've seen quite sizable resawn bookmatched log sections with the bark still intact at James Lorette's old Woods of the World shop not far from my hometown. I wouldn't call it a really small species and the sapwood is a pale cream color, so I don't know about any relationship to red ivory. In my experience the "watermelon" color does tend to fade with exposure to light. I have some small slabs I've kept in a drawer for five years or so and the color is still fresh, but two larger pieces exposed to light have faded, even though I've kept them away from direct sunlight.

[sergio]

Hi all, i used pink ivory to carve a "western shishi", you can see it on my website: serge-raoux.com . It's a hard wood, you can make fine details, it's difficult to carve with a "electric tool" (une piece à main ou micromoteur, en français). It can be dark, Janel has a pink ivory more light. It's interesting to carve.