What's the best way to clean up elk ivory's? I have a few sets that I have picked up out of winter kills the last few years and would like to clean them up, but don't want to ruin them. Thanks for any advice.
you can tumble then in a vibratory cleaner, like you would use for cleaning brass. Just use fresh grit with out any other stuff. Or, you can use a cloth wheel and polish them with some rouge.
If you don't have access to either of these; you can put them on the stove and simmer for just a minute to cook any meat on the outside of the tooth. Them use a wire brush and brush it off. If you want it to be all white, you can drop them in some peroxide.
We polish about 20 pair a year. The best way we have found is to fill your pants pocket full of change. walk around a couple days with the teeth in your pocket. They come out sparkling!!!!! Make sure to clean as much as possible with a razor first. every now and then play around with the change in your pocket(be careful of your jewels) and mix the teeth up a little. best if you let the teeth dry up a little before you put them in pockets.
Thanks "Bowhuntnut", Chose the simmer and peroxide method and they turned out good. I've done this method on dear and antelope euro mounts before, just never an elk so I didn't know if it would damage the ivory's or not. (sorry "monarchtaxidermy", sounds like an interesting method you have, maybe I'll try it this fall if I get an elk, just didn't want to try it with 12 of them). Thanx again fellas!
