Anyone know how to clean real ivory grips?

I have a couple of shooters that have real ivory grips. I love them. One of them was quite dirty after extended shooting and got some powder residue stains. Somehow, sweat or whatever, they got wet and it got into the grain.

I tried cleaning it off with soap and water, it won't seem to come out of the grain.

How does one safely clean ivory?

Soap and HOT water, then Lightly oil.

real mayonnaise or http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060809123757AAg5OjF

Dunno about mayonnaise:), but I have multiple sets of ivory 1911 grips, and I clean them with M Pro-7.

You might find a piano dealer/service place and ask them what they use to clean real ivory piano keys on older pianos. I was told milk, but I haven't risked anything on mine. (1948 B model Steinway)

Ivory will take on a character of its own over time.
Cleaning with mild soap (Ivory brand bar soap) and water is fine.
Use a soft cloth, and dry well.

Do not use Polident or any Denture cleaner, it will remove ALL stains and character, and until it starts taking on a patina of its own again, it will look plastic and fake.

Avoid toothpaste, as toothpaste is abrasive and will scratch Ivory, Pearls, Opals and other "soft" stones.

I forget if Hints from Héloise, or Ann Landers some decades ago suggested toothpaste and lots of folks scratched ivory, the metals they were in/on and other nice pcs including pearls and opal rings.

Soft toothbrush, and I mean "soft" , so will Kerlix ( gauze bandage) with the Ivory bar soap assists in getting dirt, and grime out of natural ivory crevices.

It depends on how fine the Ivory is finished out (polished) as to how much dirt and debris will embed in ivory.
Piano Keys are often finished out or polished very fine. [Lapidary]
Ivory is also left in various degrees of "rough" or "not finished out".

My Ivory Stocks, and Knife handles, I preferred a bit of rough texture, as it felt better in my hands and the natural attributes of ivory taking on character is what I liked.
I had yellows and reds and browns and all sorts of character which really looked good, to me.
I received lots of compliments on these as well.



HTH

Aside from the cleaning, you do want to rub your ivory stocks down with oil about every three months. I have always used extra virgin olive oil. I don't know if there are better choices or not, but when I had ivory fitted to a pair of guns several years ago, the maker recommended olive oil.

Anyone ever heard of soaking ivory in tea to make it look aged?

Anyone ever heard of soaking ivory in tea to make it look aged?

Sounds a lot like burying a gun in your back yard a year or two to give it an aged look.

Anyone ever heard of soaking ivory in tea to make it look aged?

Why? They look good when new.

The method that seemed to work best for 'gun powder stains' was a couple of drops of dish washer soap in a small container of VERY hot water. Let it soak for a while and repeat. Got the majority of it out. Then I liberally applied oil.

Thanks you very much for the help!

I'd probably not do the tea thing with ivory, I've just read of it. Burying the gun in the backyard for a year is a somewhat silly comparison as ivory is not going to rust or pit and I doubt someone would soak grips in tea for a year!

IIRC some of the Italian clone SAA importers did/do offer their revolvers with an antique or aged apperance from the factory.

Why don't someone ask an elephant? :D

Ivory is supposed to get all funky with age. If this bothers you get synthetic grips and put the ivories in the safe.