My warthog tusks are "popping" in half!!!
So far both of the bottom tusks have popped into pieces and i'm afraid that the big top ones will also! Any suggestions? wapiti7

Unfortunetly thats what will usually happen to the real tusks.........eventually.

It's probably a little late in your case, but I've heard that what should be done is for the tusks to be completely scraped out like a root canal, filled with epoxy, coated on the outside with a good sealant and then put back in. I guess that's why they offer complete replica jaw sets; to just do away with the hassle entirely.

You'll probably have to piece everything back together, like Bakes said, and fill with epoxy.

Wapiti7,

Bummer man.....and it has been a while, I may already be too late.....I'm pretty new to this site but maybe I can offfer some assistance, if not for this set of tusks then perhaps for future Warthoggies. Bye-the-Bye you are gonna play heck trying to glue those bits & pieces back together!

American, living in Germany and we bash alot of pigs here, plus have three beautiful sets of Warthog tusks; so I've been pretty successful with fixing piggie teeth.

Warthog tusks (also Wild Boar or Feral Hog tusks) require the insides clean and clear of debris, the living "root", blood and tissue such as found in any other tooth, read removed. An old toothbrush (no pun intended) some soap & water with pipe cleaners, Q-tips, bent paper clips, a snipped off piece of metal coat hanger, etc. basically whatever it takes to reach inside and clean the gunk out, but you don't have to attack it, gently does the trick. This should be done as they are removed from the jaw, left to air dry for a day (no hair dryers or other heat used - plus every time they are moistened and dried - that's what starts the splitting).

Once the the tusks are clean and dry inside and out; heat up a Hot Glue pistol until the glue is flowing freely (about 10 minutes, don't rush it or the glue will harden before flowing all the way down into the tusk) we are going to fill the tusks completely with Hot Glue. Make sure you have several sticks of glue available to feed into the pistol on hand - you'd be surpised at how much glue ti takes to fill them and you don't want to look like the tusk geek running about looking for extra glue sticks with a Hot Glue Pistol in one hand and a hot Warthog tusk in the other! (experience always makes a lasting impression).

Depending on the length of the tusk, either hold it lengthwise, rightside up (u-shaped) or upside down (the other way), sideways, whatever it takes, you'll know by the size and the way the Hot Glue should flow to get into the deepest part of the tusk cavity prior to hardening. Use something to hold the tusk with because it's gonna get hot (Duh?!) like a a rolled up Bounty towel, a pot holder or similar (ask permission from Momma first to use her kitchen stuff or you're gonna get in trouble). Also it's going to take a few minutes for the glue to solidify and if you lay it down the glue is going to run out.... a real mess plus they look like s**t glued to your thumb or the kitchen counter! As the glue dries it will contract so initially only fill about 3/4 full and then top it off later. A lightly closed vise jaws to hold it in the correct position while drying is a great aide, plus helps keeping you out of the kitchen and in the garage where you belong and cannot incurr Momma's wrath. Also if you inadvertently lay it down on in the garage it will be glued to the Ping-Pong Table instead of the kitchen counter. Note: cut the table into any neat shape you want and use as a mounting board for your Trophy Room.

With the tusks finally filled with Hot Glue, depending on your success level and the number of blisters on your fingers you may want to consider building a "glue bridge" between the tusks with Hot Glue which makes for a nifty mount. You can use the "glue bridge" to screw the tusks to a mounting board, covering the "bridge" with a strip of Elephant Leather (not available at Home Depot). Looks cool but your creativity in new posibilities are only limited by.....

Sorry the funnies, Wapiti7 hope this arrived in time to help save your Warthog tusks.

Cheers,

Gerry