Photos LB1 "Cub" custom scrimshaw on genuine ivory

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bladecollectorr

Joined
Oct 7, 2017
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361
I landed this tiny knife a while back for a happy price at auction. It was not listed as ivory and the pics were not the best. My spider-senses told me it was likely ivory but maybe white bone.

When it arrived it turned out to be ivory. They can't make these in Hawaii anymore do to the laws regarding ivory changing but I understand that Hawaii was and is home to some very good scrimshaw artists.

I usually polish my knives but I don't want to wreck the scrim so this one is keeping the patina on the bolsters. I just cleaned out the insides and oiled it. I'm working a Cub on my key-chain right now and they are neat little tools.

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Neat! The artist marked it so if you wanted to you could identify them. Be careful with the oil and handling. The covers appear to be glued on.
 
Very nice! Do they use India Ink to fill the scratches made by the scrimshander?
 
Codger_64 said:
Neat! The artist marked it so if you wanted to you could identify them. Be careful with the oil and handling. The covers appear to be glued on.
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I agree codger. I was careful not to get anything on (or under) the ivory. It looks like "PK" but maybe "DK" or "RK". I haven't dug around to see who made it yet. I will let you know if I come up with anything.

tongueriver said:
Very nice! Do they use India Ink to fill the scratches made by the scrimshander?
Click to expand...

It depends on who the scrimshander is. Originally it was "lamp black" that was used. These days different folks use different things including India ink, oil paint, permanent markers etc. I recently bought a cheap Roughrider scrimshaw trapper kit and am going to give it a try myself just-for-fun. Kit came with India ink but Sharpie markers seem much easier and I've read that oil paint is easier to work with too because it takes much longer to dry. I also bought a (not-included) chunk of bees-wax as it's easier to do cleanly if you wax the piece first.
 
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