Another jambiya in need of some TLC. WARNING: painful pictures inside

[Daniel]

I've done some restoration work on bone, ivory and stag and have worked out a method that with a little care can result in a virtually invisible repair.

I start by mixing a small amount of clear epoxy resin (very stable stuff) then with toothpicks I mix in tiny amounts of opaque watercolor pigments till I get an exact color match to the material being repaired. You don't want to use 5 minute epoxy as it doesn't give you enough working time. And you want to start with clear epoxy rather than white, since you want to be able to control the opacity. For bone, ivory, etc. it needs to be slightly translucent.

For pigments, I use designer gouache (available in art stores). It comes pre-mixed in tubes. For most repairs, you'll need small tubes of white, yellow ochre, burnt umber and black. The tiny amount of water based paints doesn't affect the hardening of the epoxy. I mix the epoxy on a paper plate and place little dabs of each of the pigments around the epoxy. I touch the toothpick into the various pigments and mix it into the epoxy till I get a color match. It only takes the tiniest amount of pigment to do the job. Start with a little white to make the epoxy semi-opaque. Then you just add a little of the various colors a touch at a time, mixing them in until the color looks correct. I'm a commercial artist, so my skill in mixing paints is pretty good, but if you take your time and are careful, you can come very close. If you screw up the color, you can just start over. If the color gets too dark, just mix in more whitened epoxy. Touch a little dab of the epoxy on to the piece to see how it close the color is. You can wipe it right off while it's still liquid. The nice thing about pigmented epoxy is that it looks exactly the same when it hardens as when it is liquid. It doesn't get darker or lighter as it sets.

Glue the halves of your handle together using enough of the tinted glue so you get a tiny bit of squeeze out all the way around. You want it to be built up above the surface of the piece. Don't wipe off the excess. In a couple of hours when it begins to harden, you can remove the excess with a razor blade or sharp knife. The next day, polish the seam with a little 4/0 steel wool and it should be barely noticeable. Rough surfaces are easier to repair than smooth ones. I've repaired missing chips in jigged bone and stag that were undetectible to expert scrutiny, even when I disclosed that there had been a repair.

Ivory is a bit tougher, and the color must be very carefully matched. Don't expect a perfect, invisible repair on ivory unless you are really good and/or lucky. But I think you'll get the best repair possible with this method.

You could drill and insert an internal pin or two when gluing, but for display purposes, the repair will probably be nearly as strong as the original material.

DD