Marlin Spike

T

tattooedfreak

Steel mutilater is more like it.
Joined
Mar 12, 2010
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I picked up a piece of white marlin spike today, it looks pretty cool, like antler or ivory. Has anyone used it for a handle or inlay or anything like that? It has a couple of small cracks but nothing that I can't work around. It is very dense and heavy and it looks like it will take a very good polish. Any thoughts?

sean
 
I cant answer your questions, sorry. I have to ask though, where did you get it and was it it expensive? I have always wanted one of those.
 
At the local farmers market, one of the woodcarvers used to be an observer on fishing vessels and picked up a bunch of stuff. He has a couple more white marlins and some blue ones as well, along with sawfish bills. The bills are very light and I doubt would be very useful. He said the one I have is the largest, it is about 10 " long, 1.5 " wide and 1" thick at the base tapering to a point. He had 75 $ on it but gave it to me for 60. I will take a pic eventually.
 
I've seen blue marlin spike for sale as a handle material.
Haven't worked with it myself yet.
 
I bought a swordfish/marlin bill and a sawfish bill at an estate sale several years back. I cut the sawfish bill into two sets of scales, and the swordfish bill into two handle rounds. I had WSSI stabilize them. It made an interesting handle, but not really spectacular. The most fun was handling the knifes to people and asking, What kind of ivory ( which it really isn't) do you think that is. It looked pretty much like ground smooth stag.
 
tattooedfreak said:
At the local farmers market, one of the woodcarvers used to be an observer on fishing vessels and picked up a bunch of stuff. He has a couple more white marlins and some blue ones as well, along with sawfish bills. The bills are very light and I doubt would be very useful. He said the one I have is the largest, it is about 10 " long, 1.5 " wide and 1" thick at the base tapering to a point. He had 75 $ on it but gave it to me for 60. I will take a pic eventually.
Click to expand...

The woodworkers name wouldn't have been Charles Mason? My uncles all live in that area and one of them was an observer.
 
No it was John Robidoux. Stacy, it did look like it could use stabilizing so I may have to take it slow when i work it. I may end up just doing a trial handle and then practicing some scrimshaw on the rest.
 
You can stabilize it yourself with thin CA .
The sawfish smelled fishy until it was completely stabilized. After shaping and before final sanding, I gave it a CA sealer coat just to make sure. The round bill was not as smelly.I would describe the odor as "salty".
 
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