R
ronaldo
Guest
I took a bull's head and rack into a taxidermist to have the cape fleshed out and asked him to also remove the ivories. He asked if I was one of those guys who takes his knife and wedges it into the gums to try to essentially cut out the ivories. I replied that indeed that was my approach and I spent considerable time and swearing doing the task. He took a wooden block about 8 inches long and 1/2 inch square, placed one end on the front of the ivory, rapped the end of the wood with a hammer in a direction parallel to the gum line and out came the ivory in perfect condition. After doing the second one the same way and with the same ease, he said he'd never damaged an ivory doing it that way. As long as one has access to a solid piece of comparably sized wood and something to rap it with, It seems like this approach could be used in the field.