A Bone To Pick

[Mike Franch]

[. . . I believe that plenty of those buttons described today as "bone" are actually ivory, and plenty of those described in the past as "ivory" were actually bone ...

 

I came across the above in looking through old postings, hoping to find an answer to my question. I've always assumed that the buttons on my treble--the standard black, white, and red--were bone, being the cheapest and most common. However, I see some very similar looking instruments described (perhaps mistakenly) as having ivory buttons.

 

My question: how does one tell?

[Dan Worrall]

There is an active bone button manufacturing industry in India, making bone buttons for the fashion industry. I remember looking up several of those companies a few years ago, and had an email exchange with one on making concertina buttons (I sent a drawing). They said they could make them, and all they required was a precise engineering drawing. I don't recall prices, but they seemed very reasonable. They were using ox bones (from sacred cows? I don't know), and were set up for volume.

Edited April 12, 2011 by Dan Worrall

[Alan Day]

delrin good.

 

bone bad.

Not meaning to offend but that sounds like a Red Indian quotation.

Get back in the waggon Day

Al

[Marien]

There is an active bone button manufacturing industry in India, making bone buttons for the fashion industry. I remember looking up several of those companies a few years ago, and had an email exchange with one on making concertina buttons (I sent a drawing). They said they could make them, and all they required was a precise engineering drawing. I don't recall prices, but they seemed very reasonable. They were using ox bones (from sacred cows? I don't know), and were set up for volume.

 

Cow bones should do the trick. I know a guitar maker who´s mother supplies cow bones - after cooking them for many hours to make a tasty soup... and he uses it for bridges and nuts. If the bone has not been cooked for a long time it will loosen its white colour, become dark and detoriate in a couple of years.

[Leo]

My question: how does one tell?

Hi Mike

 

A friend who makes writing pens tells me the differences between bone and ivory are:

1. Bone is alive, ivory is dead like fingernails, hair, and the enamel on teeth.

 

2. Bone has black spots from old unused blood vessels as the bone grows, ivory has something that only looks like growth rings on trees.

 

3. Ivory feels more smooth to the touch, bone less so.

 

4. Ivory is harder than bone

 

5.Bone is porous, ivory is not.

 

He then mentioned it takes a practice in isolation to tell the differences, but if a piece were laying next to each other it would be easy. Then he pointed to this site for examples:

http://www.asianartmall.com/refivory.htm

 

I'm just repeating an answer, but it makes sense to me

 

Thanks

Leo

[Mike Franch]

Leo, thank you. The link was fascinating. This bone v. ivory investigation looks like something that I'm not going to undertake. In regard to my concertina's buttons, I'll have to remain ignostic: I don't know, and I don't care.

 

Thanks again.

 

Mike

[Geoff Wooff]

I have made Ivory buttons for concertinas the odd time when someone had one missing or broken. These day that would be Mammoth Ivory of which I have plenty of off cuts from my main work of Uilleann pipe making.

I do not want to offer a replacement button making service, because I am really too busy, but if someone is stuck or would like an off cut that would be suitable for producing such a thing I am happy to help out.

 

Yes it does smell, like that lovely aroma when the dentist is drilling your teeth, but after many years of this I am desensitised and cannot even smell the Roses.

 

Geoff

[Simon H]

On a recent restoration I was needing to replace a couple of missing "bone" buttons. I sourced identical material by buying a few old knives from an antiques fair. Every junk shop has bone handled knives by the score for little more than pennies.

 

Interestingly when I started cutting them up I found a couple were plastic material one smelt like celluloid, the other seem more like a casein. The other couple were bone or ivory. I ended up getting the best colour match with the celluloid material. Whatever, I can strongly recommend old knife handles. Watch the fumes if you are cutting with power tools and be aware cellulose nitrate (celluloid) is fiercely flammable, being closely related to guncotton.

 

Simon

[Stephen Chambers]

... be aware cellulose nitrate (celluloid) is fiercely flammable, being closely related to guncotton.

 

As witnessed by the "spontaneous combustion" of Rolf Harris' accordion!

 

In fact I was already reminded of that earlier, when I misread Marien's post as saying that "If the bone has not been cooked for a long time it will ... detonate in a couple of years"! (Should've put me glasses on... )

[shaunw]

delrin good.

 

bone bad.

 

Bob I don't know how you can say that. Bone is a wonderful material

the product of millions of years of evolution. Many concertinas

with bone buttons have survived for over 150 years. I'm not sure

that any plastic (which is a supercooled liquid) will do that.

[jdms]

delrin good.

 

bone bad.

 

Of course it's got bones in it! If it didn't have bones in it, it wouldn't be crunchy, now, would it?!

 

jdms