Walrus hide as a metal polisher : Brass World, November, 1919, vol. xv, No. 11, p. 326

Abstract

This chapter covers the origin, hunting practices, and materials derived from scrimshaw. Scrimshaw is an occupational handicraft of mariners employing by-products of the whale fishery, often in combination with other found materials. Materials associated most commonly with scrimshaw are the ivory teeth and skeletal bone of the sperm whale, the ivory tusks of the walrus, and the baleen of various mysticete species. The characteristic pigment for highlighting engraved scrimshaw was lampblack, which is essentially a viscous suspension of carbon particles in oil. Sealing wax had the advantages of being universally available, relatively inexpensive, brilliantly colored, and colorfast. Applied properly, it has proven resilient and tenacious, the color as vivid today as when the scrimshaw was new. Pictorial engraving on sperm whale teeth—the quintessential manifestation of scrimshaw—resulted from changing circumstances in the fishery in the aftermath of the Napoleonic wars. Cetacean bone panels and stilettos survive from the Viking era, some incised with rope patterns and animal figures, and cetacean bones served as beams in vernacular buildings in Norway and the Friesian Islands. In the 1830s, scrimshaw became widely generalized. On some whaling vessels virtually the entire ship's company participated. Scrimshaw was quintessentially a diversion of the whalemen's ample leisure hours, to fill time, and produce mementos, as gifts for loved ones at home. Scrimshaw objects intended for practical use included hand tools, kitchen gadgets, sewing implements, toys, and even full-sized furniture. Some, such as fids, straightedges, tool handles, seam-rubbers, napkin rings, and even some canes, could be carved or turned from a single piece of ivory or bone. The quintessential form of purely decorative scrimshaw is engraved ivory and bone, usually rendered in a single medium—a tooth or pair of teeth; a tusk or pair; or a plaque, strip, or section of sperm whale panbone.