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What is Scrimshaw?
No one knows exactly when the first scrimshaw art was done, maybe by indigenous people on islands with access to whale teeth or bones. In the early 1800s when the whaling industry came into being, the whalers and crewmen had idle time between catching and processing the whales for use, so they utilized their tools, knives or net sewing needles to cut or scratch the surfaces of whale teeth or bones and then rubbed soot from the oil lamps they used (lamp black), to bring out the picture they had done on the surface of the ivory. Teeth are considered ivory and these natives and seamen could obtain walrus tusks and whale teeth and various bone on their voyages.
Currently, many scrimshanders, numbering in a few thousand now, use various forms of ivory, bone and man-made handle materials, for knives and gun grips, to do this slow cutting and stippling (dot form) process into the surface and use inks or oil paint to pigment the black or color into the cuts. Most scrimshanders make their own cutting tools for their own comfort, it takes many hours to produce a piece of art, depending on the material and size of the piece.
There are now electrical cutting tools used by some scrimshanders to speed the process of a piece of art, but for many, as myself, the hand method is more satisfying and valuable to the collectors of this art-form.
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