Tagua nut vegetable ivory when dried out can be carved just like elephant ivory; it is often used for beads, buttons, figurines and jewelry, and can be dyed. Vegetable ivory has been used extensively to make dice, knife handles, and chess pieces. It is a very hard and dense material. More recently, palm ivory has been used in the production of bagpipes
The kernels are picked up from the ground after the ripe fruit has detached from the Palm tree and forest animals have taken care of the pericarp, or harvested when ripe and the pericarp manually removed. As the nut shrinks when it hardens a small hollow cavity can form in the centre. A tagua palm can take up to 15 years to mature. But once it gets to this stage it can go on producing vegetable ivory for up to 100 years. In any given year a tagua palm can produce up to 20 pounds (about 9kg) of vegetable ivory
It is often not possible to know whether the inside of the nut will have a small cavity in the centre until it is cut into. Therefore, when carving, it is common to either incorporate the hole or cavity into carvings or not carve deep enough to reach a potential cavity.
John copp (verified owner) –
Very nice to work with,has no grain and cuts very crisply. Takes very fine detail.
corinna (verified owner) –
very good, quick delivery great customer service very nice product for carving small objects.
John Skillcorn (verified owner) –
I’m delighted with this product. I needed very large tagua which have proven well worth the small extra outlay. This is going to be my source from now on.
david (verified owner) –
Disappointed that the nuts were quite small.
allen (verified owner) –
as advertised and in good condition
paulmcdonald (verified owner) –
Tagua nut
KeithPearsonRoselle (verified owner) –
Ordered the 12 Tagua Nuts for a few projects i am working on, they were well packed and delivered on time, all the Tagua Nuts were a good size and all in very good condition, thank you very much.
AudreyDavenport (verified owner) –
Quite difficult to handle due to the size and hardness of the Tagua nut but once peeled, a delightful challenge.
Andrew (verified owner) –
Good, but small. It would be useful to know sizes before buying.
DarrenEllerton (verified owner) –
A good high quality selection of tagua nuts. All in first class pristine condition. I have carved hundreds of these over the years, they take very fine detail and polish to a beautiful lustrous shine.
Aiden (verified owner) –
Shipped amazingly quick, arrived well packaged and the nuts were of a decent size. Couldn’t really ask for more.
ChrisJagger (verified owner) –
I have used tagua from yandles once before and I was so happy that I bought a bulk supply for carving. I have seen video of people using dremel to carve them, but I use a die grinder for better torque and get great results.
Charlie (verified owner) –
Good service, site easy to navigate and package arrived quickly. Tagua nuts were all a good size and I am really looking forward to seeing what I can create with them. Will definitely recommend Yandles and will be ordering from again in the future.
breakawayntlworldcom (verified owner) –
Good service and quality product. My Tagau Nuts came in various sizes and were very cheap.
MichaelTaylor (verified owner) –
The nuts are good quality and the majority are of good size I’m well pleased with my order
BobWalden (verified owner) –
For the Repair Cafe in Sherborne I was presented with some carved birds to fix, one of which had lost its beak. I made one from wood, but it doesn’t look right. I thought I’d see if I could get some of these exotic nuts from Equador from which the originals were carved. YES I could get some, not direct from Equador, but from Yandles of Martock, just half an hour away – RESULT. They’re inexpensive too.