What does everyone do with boar or warthog tusks to prevent splitting?

[thriller]

Candle wax, or normal silicone.
All ok.

I also have one pair of tusks, never filled with anything, and in good shape for all these years. I wonder if filling is really necessary?

Some survive and some don’t. None of my filled sets have split, but about half of my unfilled ones have over time

 

[grand veneur]

Just ask in Mycenae how they did it. After all, fairly well-preserved over 3000 years old boar tusk helmets were found in the graves.

Boar's tusk helmet - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Tamboti]

Nothing. I do have many tusks from European wildboer, african bushpig and warthog, up to app. 40 years old. No tusk ever split. Have no idea what other people do in order to have them split.

 

[Sabre]

Just ask in Mycenae how they did it. After all, fairly well-preserved over 3000 years old boar tusk helmets were found in the graves.

View attachment 672448

Boar's tusk helmet - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Quite a few of those are split and cracked. Someone should have been hitting them with a little wax or oil every few hundred years.

 

[Sabre]

Nothing. I do have many tusks from European wildboer, african bushpig and warthog, up to app. 40 years old. No tusk ever split. Have no idea what other people do in order to have them split.

It really is interesting that some people have 40 year old tusks that have never split and some people's have split after a year.

I would guess something about their environment, like low humidity. Or maybe it is about the individual animal. I will say that it's not "What other people are doing" like implying that other people are doing something wrong. They really are prone to cracking and splitting.

Teeth in general are. A lot of predator skulls, the canine teeth split over time.

 

[Sabre]

Some survive and some don’t. None of my filled sets have split, but about half of my unfilled ones have over time

It is really interesting how some can have nothing done and not split within the same house/environment as well. Has to be individual variation in the animal to some degree. Or maybe how the skull was cleaned.

 

[gizmo]

I use bondo mixed with fiberglass resin. It will make a runny slurry then pour it into the inside of the tusk. Once it hardens you are good to go.

 

[IvW]

If they are over boiled during prep can cause issues.....

 

[Muskox]

Humidity is the factor.

I have had both skulls, teeth and wood gunstocks crack in the Mojave and Chihuahuan deserts of New Mexico and California.