Front bead

[Jim Thoma]

Just replaced the front bead on my westley Richards it is white, is there a way to make it look old?

[Jeff Kuss]

amber shellac so I have been told.

[Allen Peterson]

coffee and tobacco works on my teeth. Why not beads. make a cup of coffee and stick a cigar in it overnight . test on some material the same as the bead material. The ivory the carvers in Hong-Kong that sold stuff at the China fleet Club used tea to make the ivory chess pieces and other ivory items look old.

[Dean Romig]

I have read that iodine will turn an ivory bead a very pleasing yellow/Amber color.
Personally, I would test it on some other ivory piece first, just so I knew what I should expect.





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[Phil Yearout]

I've used tea to color them; works very well. I've never done it after the bead was installed on the gun however.

[Jim Thoma]

The bead that was installed is not ivory it looks like plastic, would it still work? Also where can I get an ivory bead?

[Jeff Kuss]

I would not think so. Ivory beads are found on ebay from time to time. Some gunsmiths still have them.

[Robin Lewis]

I'm surprised ebay would allow ivory to be sold, I believe it's not legal unless well documented as to its age.

I wonder, is James Julia Auction's still removing ivory beads from guns before releasing guns to the new owners? I don't remember them talking about ivory at the last auction but I may have arrived late and missed that in the beginning rules announcements.

[Jerry Harlow]

http://www.brownells.com/shotgun-parts/sights/front-sights/shotgun-sight-bead-prod9651.aspx

Don't worry about the thread size. I used a pin vise to hold the head then took a Dremel tool to cut the shank down to just larger than the Parker hole. Took the sight held with a pin vise and screwed it into the hole creating its own threads. Took it out and put very minute amount of super glue on it and threaded it back in. Warning: do not use the pin vise to screw all the way in or you will make a circle imprint on the wavy rib if not very careful (don't ask how I know). Back the pin vise to where you can just hold the sight and not touch the rib. Tea or coffee to discolor it. If you think the bead itself is too big (it is rather large, chuck it up in a drill press with a fine emery board to shape it down smaller. Better buy two when you order them.



National Geographic had an interesting article on the mammoth ivory being hunted in the melting snow pack, and how valuable it was to the native Siberian people (and in Alaska as well).


http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/04/125-mammoth-tusks/larmer-text

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/science/2006-05-30-wooly-mammoth-trinkets_x.htm

[Destry L. Hoffard]

Just keep an eye out for vintage Lyman beads on eBay, they're all ivory even if not so listed.

DLH

[Destry L. Hoffard]

The Brownell's beads don't have a very vintage look, and they also don't have any kind of a metal base. I tried one on a gun and took it off later, just didn't care for it.

[Pat Dugan]

Destry correct, they are bulbous
And have to be reshaped and colored
To look Parker, but they are mammoth
Ivory