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Originally Posted by Jens Nordlunde
It is said that African ivory was prefered to Indian ivory, as it was harder, and camel bone would be even harder, but do you know if camel bone was used often for hilts?
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I talked to the masters of bone carving. They spoke about the intricacies of the choice of bones of ungulates intended for carving. Bulls older than 4 years old and old cows that stopped feeding milk for 2 years (calcium from the bones partially passes into milk) gives excellent bone quality. Today, industrial methods are used in agricultural production - almost all bulls aged 2 years are sent for meat, cows are sent for processing immediately after they stop giving milk. The bones of such bulls and cows are of poor quality and significantly lose to the bones of camels. Therefore, for about 30-40 years, camel bones are very popular among carvers and knifemakers. But I have never heard that a camel’s bone is superior in hardness to an African elephant’s ivory.