<font color='black' size='2' face='Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif'>
<div style="color: black; font-family: arial,helvetica; font-size: 10pt;">
<div id="AOLMsgPart_1_9d6310eb-11df-431d-8c6f-5c1f967a4fa5">
<font color="black" size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">
<div><font style="background-color: transparent;" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Paul </font></div>
<div><font style="background-color: transparent;" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"></font> </div>
<div><font style="background-color: transparent;" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">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. </font></div>
<div><font style="background-color: transparent;" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"></font> </div>
<div><font style="background-color: transparent;" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">But here is a thought. Instead of a circle, why not make the table look more authentic, and cut diamonds in the the rail. </font></div>
<div> </div>
<div>Wim</div>
<div></div>
<div style="clear: both;">
<div> </div>
</div>
<div></div>
<div></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: arial,helvetica; font-size: 10pt;">-----Original Message-----<br>
From: paulmulik <paulmulik@yahoo.com><br>
To: pianotech <pianotech@ptg.org><br>
Sent: Thu, Jan 24, 2013 3:01 am<br>
Subject: [pianotech] Cutting ivory into a circular shape (slightly OT)<br>
<br>
<div style="margin: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Sans-Serif; font-size: 12px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" id="AOLMsgPart_0_544f2111-051e-4833-9ba7-8f03a7fcae96">
<pre style="font-size: 9pt;"><tt>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
</tt></pre>
</div>
<!-- end of AOLMsgPart_0_544f2111-051e-4833-9ba7-8f03a7fcae96 -->
</div>
</font>
</div>
<!-- end of AOLMsgPart_1_9d6310eb-11df-431d-8c6f-5c1f967a4fa5 -->
</div>
</font>