title says it all...

i boil em, and scrape what's left off with a knife.

Just scape 'em with a piece of broken glass or a pocket knife blade held perpendicular to the root. No need to get above the gum line, as that is where the cool colors are.......I'd never boil.

Doesnt that scraping really pizz them off..?


Ingwe

Gentle flossing makes for happy elk.

No, silly. The extraction process does THAT. Most alks don't tend to care much, one way or the other, how you clean 'em once they're out. I do hear they don't like the taste of boiling, tho......

dang I've been shooting them 1st all thease years!

bucktail:

I use an Exacto knife to clean them. I let them dry but I don't boil them.

Here are a few examples of what you can do with them.







KC

I always just used a pocket knife to cut all the extra meat off of them. My wood shop teacher in highschool told me to put them in a ziplock back with cornmeal in it and it will polish them up and bring out the color more but i never really noticed much of a difference. I wear one of the ivories from my biggest bull(6x6) around my neck every day.

Yeah, me too...

Don't boil em.

Just scrape em like these guys said. And I don't pull em with a plyers either. That'll mark em up bad.

Use a stout knife & poke it down all the way around the root like you were digging up a tree & pop em out that way.

I was shown a very easy and quick method of getting the ivories out by a guy here in Montana a couple of years ago. You just hold one end of a short piece of 2x4 against the tooth, then whack the other end of the 2x4 with a hammer. Lifts them right out without any markings.

A little slicing is necessary for the final freeing, but it's a LOT easier than digging around the roots with a knife point.

I just scrape them clean with a knife and carry them around in my pocket with some change for a week or two. This really makes them shine.

Hope and change? Or just change?

Learned that same trick last year. Whack 'em too hard and you have to go fishing around the tonsils to find them. LOL.

Very little cleaning needed with that method, basically a little scraping and they're good to go.

Just carry them in your pocket a while. They will polish up pretty nicely.

The last pair I got (cow) I cleaned up with my knife as good as I could then I soaked them in Peroxide for a couple days.

Bet THAT took the good color off.....

Nope. Didn't change the color a bit.

Read somewhere to put them in a Tobacco pouch with fresh Coffee grounds then carry them in your pocket for awhile. Works well polishes them and gives a little bit of color.

This is after they are cleaned of any tissue.

fresh USED coffee grounds?...

Agree with Mule Deer and Alamosa. The 2x4 method knocks them out with very little flesh attached. Just make sure you knock them from the front towards the back. Not side to side like a buddy of mine did to a bull of mine last year.

Then carry them around in your pocket with a handful of coins. They will polish up as you go about your day.

I had a professional guide this year tell me to scrape the tissue off and put them in a tin of dip or chewing tobacco and that would bring out the colors relly good. That's what I intend to do with mine. He is 52 years old and has guided elk on the 3 Forks ranch and the Hill Ranch for many years so I guess he knows his stuff.

fixt....

I've put em in a container of salt for a couple weeks. When they come out the meat is dry and flakes right off.

You mean that I've got to add a2x4 to my pack that I haul around the mountain now? Dang it! I'm trying to go lighter not pack more stuff.

I was shown the same method last year in New Mexico. A stout stick & a rock works too.

I'll attest to the 2x4 removal method as well. Now, how about some suggestions as to what you guys are doing with them after they're cleaned up.

Have seen some jewelry designs but could use some specific ideas and suggestions as well as contacts on who does the work. Tried to talk to a jeweler about it here in Virginia and got a look like I was crazy!

Clean the tissue off of them the best you can, then put them in a cup full of Coka Cola and let them set for a couple of days. It will eat all the tissue off of them and clean them, but it will let them retain their color within the ivory. I have done this many times, and it works better then anything that I have found.

Toby Joe

Peroxide or bleach with turn them white, and they will not retain any of the color. To take them out of the elk, wrap some paper towel around the some pliers as to not scratch the tooth, then grab ahold of them and turn them sideways. They come right out with very little tissue attached.
My clients have killed 15 bulls this year, and I pulled every ivory out of every bull with this method, and used the coke cola to clean them. You can put a piece of meat in a cup of coke cola and within a few days it will completely dissolve.

Toby Joe

There is some adds in the SCI magazine of some jewelers that specialize in elk ivory. Im fixing to send some off to be done for necklaces for my boys. Will post some pics when they are done.

Toby Joe

Also several ads for specialized ivory jewelers in the back of Bugle magazine published by RMEF

My method for cleaning them off is to put them somewhere simple where I'll forget them, and then when I find 'em the meat is all dried and comes off easily.

Sometimes that's in the secret pocket of my hunting pants, where they ride around for a while before my wife washes the pants at the end of the season. That doesn't hurt the color, since she never washes any of hunting clothes with bleach.