Liz, The bone used for most bobbins is from beef/cow. You need to have sections of bone that are straight and at least 4" (10mm) long and at least 1/4" (6mm) in thickness along the entire length. So the bone needs to come from an animal larger than lamb. I get bone from the pet store in the dog food section and have to be very selective in order to get pieces that are straight and thick enough to use.
It is easy to turn so you should be able to do it on any small lathe. It does dulls the tools faster than wood so you need to make sure to keep them sharp and it is more brittle than wood so a light touch is required. The dust is quite annoying and very smelly so we always use a mask and air filter to keep the dust under control. We recently added bone bobbins, water buffalo horn and a new wood, bloodwood, to our website at www.BeeUtahful.com/store/newitems.html. Jim Stavast Arache 8th Anniversary commemorative bobbin supplier. www.BeeUtahful.com. On 19 Jun 2003 at 11:32, Liz S. Reynolds wrote: > I've got a few implements, crochet hooks and the like, that all appear to > be bone. A tatting shuttle that was sold to me as "ivory" is actually celluloid > (didn't > exactly fool me). I have some ivory beads that are recent (bought through > legal channels around 15 years ago) and the difference is striking. The > bone items all have deep grooves, sort of like the obvious grain in > oak. The ivory is much smoother and satiny as well as being more > beautiful. Perhaps there is poorer quality ivory and higher quality bone > that would be harder to tell apart. > > What sort of bone would one use to make bobbins from? Regular beef bones, > or maybe lamb since the leg bone is convenient? Would it work on a dremel lathe? > > -Liz > > > On Mon, Jun 16, 2003 at 06:48:03PM -0400, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > In a message dated 6/12/2003 2:31:51 AM GMT Daylight Time, > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > > > > > I for one would be most upset if I had secured a bid for what I thought > > > would be an ivory bobbin and found it to be bone! > > > > I recognize Christine and David Springett as the experts on > > bobbins..certainly on English bobbins anyway, and They say that it is unusual to > > find an > > English bobbin made from ivory. In my collection of at least 100 antique bobbins, > > I > > have one highly carved bobbin that was probably made in India, and 'might' be > > ivory. It could have been made when lace was being taught in India by > > missionaries. > > All the rest are bone. > > > > > > Elaine Merritt > > The Lace Museum > > 552 South Murphy Avenue > > Sunnyvale, CA 94086 > > tel. (408) 730 4695 > > - > > To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: > > unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] > - > To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: > unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Jim Stavast ShopSite QA [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED]
