MODELMAKER'S CORNER
Tl <History in q'Vory by Scottie Dayton
Queen Hatshepsut' s Punt ship ( l 500Bc) was completed in 1990. The 1/9" to the foot scale model is 10" long and 5.6" high. This was Egypt's oceangoing cargo ship from the New Kingdom era. Celuch Photo .
avid W arther' s studio is more than ' ] ) a shipmodeler's workshop-it is part of his new establishment, David Warther Carving, part workshop, part museum, with a 2, 100-foot display on the development of the ship, from Egypt's First Dynasty to the present day. It is open daily to visitors in Sugarcreek, Ohio. As a teenager, David spent his summer vacations helping his father care for his grandfather Mooney W arther' s collection of ivory steam locomotives he had carved over the years. Then during his senior high school year, David built a scale model of the USCG cutter Eagle in black walnut and trimmed it with ivory and ebony. In 1981 WartherjoinedTirnkenCompany in Canton, Ohio, as a full-time grinder machinist while attending Kent State University 70 miles away. He graduated cum laude in 1986 with a major in business administration. Despite his heavy schedule, he continued to carve. By his early twenties, Warther's ivory ships were on display at Smith Gallery in New York, Nantucket Museum Gallery, American Marine Model Gallery in Salem, and Mystic Seaport Gallery in Connecticut. Mystic 's directors rated his models as "museum quality AAA" adding that they "epitomize the highest level 22
Venicia (1270), a Venetian overseas trading vessel at 1112" to the foot scale. The merchant Marco Polo and his family used this type of ship. The model, completed in 1993, is 8.75" long and 7.5" high. Photo by S. Youngen .
of accomplishment in marine art. " Since his early teens, Warther's goal was to work full-time on his history-ofthe-ship project. Consequently, he produced more models for his collection than for sale. After nine years, he had a fleet of Egyptian royal boats and European cogs and it was time to quit his job, live on his investments and carve. He took the plunge in 1990. David W arther Carvings opened in 1993. Like his grandfather, David works in ivory and prefers elephant tusks. An average six-foot tall, seven-inch diameter tooth weighs 70 pounds and has enough ivory in it for 10 to 20 models. He averages two models a year. The ivory he uses was imported during the 1920s and 30s and conforms to today 's strict government regulations. Every hull begins as a solid block of ivory that Warther hollows out just enough to accept the deck. It is sanded, then polished to a high gloss. "Unpolished ivory attracts dust and dirt and soon disfigures, discolors and begins decaying," David explained. "Polished ivory remains in good condition for thousands of years." Because no adhesive will outlive ivory, Wartherrelies on miniature ivory pegs to hold his models
together and to guarantee longevity. Anchors are often the most challenging part of a model and each requires more than a day to complete. Ancient ones were three-pronged and resemble grappling hooks-a complex and challenging shape. Anchor rings are little thin ivory circles that must be polished inside and out. Before attaching them, Warther soaks the rings in distilled water overnight to soften them, then slits through one side with a razor blade. The ring is gently opened and snapped over the anchor stock. Ivory's resilience "remembers" its circular shape to such a degree that no cut mark is visible. Although ivory is hard, comparable in density to beef bone, it is so brittle that if a tusk were dropped, it would crack like an egg. However, the fibrous material becomes pliable when thin. That trait enables Warther to rig his models in ivory. He cuts long, square strips of it, then places a length in the appropriate groove cut into a block of mild tool steel. The steel block has progressively smaller grooves. As W arther files over the top of the ivory, he rotates it, rounding the piece. It is then placed into progressively smaller grooves. Half the rigging breaks before it is finished, butt Warther can produce a strip 0.007" (7 1thousandths of an inch) in diamSEA HIISTORY 78, SUMMER 1996