Ivory from old piano keys

1) Its recycled so its legal to reuse, just don’t harvest any elephants or out of season walrus’s. LOL
2)imitation doesn’t age as real ivory does.
3) It can be machined with woodworking tools, its brittle so can break easy.
4) Real ivory will yellow when aged.

-- I don't make mistakes, I have great learning lessons, Greg

To authenticate it I think you tickle the ivory. Or so I have heard.

Actually I have no idea. Go for it and let us know.
Steve

-- -- I'm no rocket surgeon

You can use the pin test to authenticate it as not synthetic. Press the tip of a red-hot pin on the surface (hidden area) and if it’s plastic, it will melt the surface leaving a mark/indentation.

Well, it looks like I can’t loose with it. And I won’t have problems with any imitation limitation. If I do get it Steve, I will definitely tickle them.

-- Backer boards, stop blocks, build oversized, and never buy a hand plane--

I’d be very very careful. I was at an airport recently and they had a “trophy” cabinet of items they’d confiscated. Should you, or the person who ends up with one of your pieces ever try to cross an international border, they may have some serious trouble – is there paperwork that the ivory really is pre-embargo? How will that work if you’ve changed it to look unlike a piano key?
This web site has a little information
Oh, and the “hot pin” test will tell if the keys are plastic, but won’t tell you if they’re ivory or bone.

-- "Do not speak – unless it improves on silence."