[pianotech] Cutting ivory into a circular shape (slightly OT)

[tnrwim at aol.com]

Paul  

As John and Paul said, if you soak the ivory, it becomes soft, which would allow you to cut it. I like your method of gluing the ivory on the end of a dowel. 

But here is a thought. Instead of a circle, why not make the table look more authentic, and cut diamonds in the the rail. 

Wim


 



-----Original Message-----
From: paulmulik <paulmulik at yahoo.com>
To: pianotech <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Thu, Jan 24, 2013 3:01 am
Subject: [pianotech] Cutting ivory into a circular shape (slightly OT)


Good morning all,

I'm having my pool table refinished, and the diamonds (sights) on my table are 
cheap plastic imitation mother-of-pearl. I thought I'd replace them with 
something that looks nicer, and ivory came to mind. For those not familiar with 
cue sports, the "diamonds" are set into the rails around the table, they are 
little markers (usually 18 of them) which players can use as an aid in setting 
up shots. On many tables, including mine, they are circular, however in 
billiards lingo they are still called diamonds no matter what shape they are.
  
Anyway, like most everyone reading this message, I've got some old used ivory 
keytops laying around, but the problem is, how can I cut it into 7/16th inch 
circles? Many old pool tables had real ivory diamonds, and ivory almost 
certainly would have been used to make buttons, but back then I guess they would 
have started with a large piece of ivory, formed it into a cylinder with a lathe 
or some other power tool, and then sliced into discs. 

I haven't tried it yet, but I wouldn't think one could stamp out circles of 
ivory from an old keytop the way one would with leather or paper. It seems to me 
the thin ivory would just shatter. Then the thought occurred to me that maybe I 

could take a 1/2 inch wooden dowel rod, glue a square piece of ivory to the end 
of it, and then sand it into a circular shape using a belt sander. Then I could 
slice off the end of the dowel with a band saw, making a little wooden button 
with ivory on one side. The pool table rails could easily be drilled slightly 
deeper (or larger) if necessary. 

Can anyone suggest a different method of making circular discs of ivory?

Thanks,
Paul Mulik
Sent from my U.S. Cellular BlackBerry® smartphone

 
 
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