Facts About Scrimshaw

Word Origin

• The word "scrimshaw" is probably derived from a Dutch slang term meaning "to waste one's time." Thus, the first definitions of scrimshaw included any crafts that seamen produced in their spare time: whittling, ditty boxes, baskets and more. But as whale byproducts were particularly plentiful on the ships, the material---baleen, teeth and jawbones---became the primary material for scrimshaw, and when whalers recognized the sizable market for their crafts, scrimshaw became more than a way to pass the time.
  
  

Cultural Passage

• Many other cultures in Africa and Asia use bone and ivory to create artwork, but scrimshaw itself is a distinctive North American style. Native Americans such as the Inuits practiced a precursor of scrimshaw as early as 100 to 200 AD; when they passed this craft on to sailors and whalers, modern scrimshaw began to evolve.
  
  

Whaler's Craft

• The early craft of scrimshaw was fairly crude, as whalers had to attempt this intricate work under the difficult conditions of a constantly rocking ship. They carved with sailing needles and used tobacco juice or candle black to define the etchings. As many whalers could not read or write, early scrimshaw is usually neither signed nor dated.
  
  

Later History

• As the whaling industry declined, so did the trade in scrimshaw. Furthermore, the 1917 flu epidemic took a severe toll on whaling populations, particularly the Inuits. In the 1960s, President John F. Kennedy was revealed to be an avid collector of scrimshaw, who even displayed scrimshaw in the Oval Office; this revived the market until both commercial whaling and the sale of elephant ivory were banned in the 1980s. "Fakeshaw," or scrimshaw produced on manufactured imitations of ivory, became the easiest alternative; museum reproductions of scrimshaw are nearly all plastic "fakeshaw."
  
  

Contemporary Craft

• Scrimshaw artisans today use a myriad of different materials: camel bone, micarta, naturally shed antler, ivory from piano keys and even vegetable ivory from the South American tagua nut. Rather than sailing needles, they use dental tools. Many contemporary scrimshanders create unconventional scrimshaw; they depict varied scenes, rather than just nautical ones, and some designs are polychromatic.