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Please post your scrimshaw examples in this thread.
A couple of disclaimers:
1. I don't REALLY think that posting photos of scrimshawed knives will melt snow, but I do know that it helps distract me from complaining about snow. After one of the first snowfalls of the season, maybe back in November, Harry (Old Engineer) posted a picture of a knife bearing some scrimshaw and I remember thinking that the snow didn't look nearly as discouraging with the artistically decorated knife in the foreground.
2. I should NOT be complaining about snow. This has been a relatively mild winter for me. On Tuesday, Feb. 23, less than 2 weeks ago, the seasonal snowfall total in my city was 30 inches, while the average seasonal snowfall total for that date was 62.5 inches. BUT ... the next day we got 10+ inches, last week on March 1 we got 7+ inches, yesterday we got almost 3 more inches. Something has to be done to try to break this disturbing trend!
I'll start by showing an example that I received almost two weeks ago, and have been carrying every day since then. r8shell PMed me, asking for an address to which she could send something for me. Although this kind of thing happens around here often, it still amazes me! When I gave r8shell my address, she wouldn't tell me what she was sending, only that it would be a couple of days before she'd get it in the mail. In the meantime, in some thread (maybe the Rough Rider thread??), r8shell happened to show off some of the astounding scrimshaw she'd done on some of her knives. I asked her if she did custom scrimshaw, but she said she wasn't good enough for that. Then I asked her for hints on the procedure, hoping that I (or more likely my artsy/craftsy wife) could give it a try sometime. In the process, I mentioned what I'd probably try as my first project.
Well, one day at work, I found a package from r8shell in my mailbox, and opened it up to find this:
A cool 2.75" Rough Rider stockman with white bone handles on which r8shell had scrimmed a wonderful feather!!
But that wasn't all! On the other side of the handle was the famous mathematical formula I had mentioned I'd try as my first scrimshaw project!!
That formula is known as Euler's Identity, named after an 18th century Swiss mathematician who popularized many of the mathematical symbols we use today, including 3 appearing in Euler's Identity that represent 3 most important mathematical constants. "e" is the base of natural logarithms, "i" is the imaginary unit essential in representing complex numbers, and "pi" is of course the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. Euler's Identity also contains two other essential constants, 0 and 1, the additive and multiplicative identities, respectively, for real and complex numbers. And that's not all!!
The identity also includes the operations of addition, multiplication, and exponentiation!! :thumbup:
In another of the amazing coincidences that characterize my "knife life", r8shell told me that she is actually related to Euler through her mother's side of the family, and felt compelled to try to put the formula on the knife on short notice before sending it out to me. Gotta tell you, I was grinning like an idiot as I walked the hallways at work that day, making my colleagues and students look at my fabulous gift! I imagine I'll probably carry this knife every day. It's probably as close as I'll ever come to a custom folder; that mathematical art work is without a doubt completely custom!! :thumbup::thumbup:
I have one other scrimshaw example that I'll add later. Let's see what everyone else has! Thanks!
- GT
A couple of disclaimers:
1. I don't REALLY think that posting photos of scrimshawed knives will melt snow, but I do know that it helps distract me from complaining about snow. After one of the first snowfalls of the season, maybe back in November, Harry (Old Engineer) posted a picture of a knife bearing some scrimshaw and I remember thinking that the snow didn't look nearly as discouraging with the artistically decorated knife in the foreground.
2. I should NOT be complaining about snow. This has been a relatively mild winter for me. On Tuesday, Feb. 23, less than 2 weeks ago, the seasonal snowfall total in my city was 30 inches, while the average seasonal snowfall total for that date was 62.5 inches. BUT ... the next day we got 10+ inches, last week on March 1 we got 7+ inches, yesterday we got almost 3 more inches. Something has to be done to try to break this disturbing trend!
I'll start by showing an example that I received almost two weeks ago, and have been carrying every day since then. r8shell PMed me, asking for an address to which she could send something for me. Although this kind of thing happens around here often, it still amazes me! When I gave r8shell my address, she wouldn't tell me what she was sending, only that it would be a couple of days before she'd get it in the mail. In the meantime, in some thread (maybe the Rough Rider thread??), r8shell happened to show off some of the astounding scrimshaw she'd done on some of her knives. I asked her if she did custom scrimshaw, but she said she wasn't good enough for that. Then I asked her for hints on the procedure, hoping that I (or more likely my artsy/craftsy wife) could give it a try sometime. In the process, I mentioned what I'd probably try as my first project.
Well, one day at work, I found a package from r8shell in my mailbox, and opened it up to find this:
A cool 2.75" Rough Rider stockman with white bone handles on which r8shell had scrimmed a wonderful feather!!
But that wasn't all! On the other side of the handle was the famous mathematical formula I had mentioned I'd try as my first scrimshaw project!!
That formula is known as Euler's Identity, named after an 18th century Swiss mathematician who popularized many of the mathematical symbols we use today, including 3 appearing in Euler's Identity that represent 3 most important mathematical constants. "e" is the base of natural logarithms, "i" is the imaginary unit essential in representing complex numbers, and "pi" is of course the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. Euler's Identity also contains two other essential constants, 0 and 1, the additive and multiplicative identities, respectively, for real and complex numbers. And that's not all!!
The identity also includes the operations of addition, multiplication, and exponentiation!! :thumbup:In another of the amazing coincidences that characterize my "knife life", r8shell told me that she is actually related to Euler through her mother's side of the family, and felt compelled to try to put the formula on the knife on short notice before sending it out to me. Gotta tell you, I was grinning like an idiot as I walked the hallways at work that day, making my colleagues and students look at my fabulous gift! I imagine I'll probably carry this knife every day. It's probably as close as I'll ever come to a custom folder; that mathematical art work is without a doubt completely custom!! :thumbup::thumbup:
I have one other scrimshaw example that I'll add later. Let's see what everyone else has! Thanks!
- GT
