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

[Paul McCloud]

You might try soaking them or steaming them.  They probably would punch without breaking.
Paul McCloud
San Diego

----- Original Message -----
From: paulmulik at yahoo.com
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2013 4:56:22 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
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