Thread: Baleen scales

Did Wade and Butcher ever make razors scales from baleen? I have seen that advertises in a description on the bay Baleen Wade AMP Butcher Barber 039 S USE Straight Razor CIVIL WAR ERA | eBay.

Bob

Looks like horn to me.

Looks like horn to me

Is Keritin,same as horn,dunno

All of the Baleen stuff I've seen was whitish and looked a lot like ivory until you looked at the grain.
I've never seen black baleen before.

Originally Posted by criswilson10

All of the Baleen stuff I've seen was whitish and looked a lot like ivory until you looked at the grain.
I've never seen black baleen before.

I saw baleen for sale years ago in Alaska and had the same impression as you do.

Thanks for the answers so far.

Bob

First you have to know what baleen is. It is a filter system the whale uses to catch small items like tiny krill - a fringe of hairy plates (baleen bristles) hand from bony baleen plates in the whales head. The baleen bristles are fringed - once they have filtered off the krill, etc, the whale licks it off, so it must be strong and pliable.

In fact so strong and pliable was it that crinoline skirts once had the hoops made from it, as did ladies corsets. It was even used to make spectacle frames.

The baleen bristle is made from keratin (found in hair, finger nails, hooves, cow horns, etc) and bears a passing resemblence to cowhorn, usually being discoloured - eg brownish, dark grey, nearly black etc. Some lighter examples exist, mainly off white, creamy types, but these are few.



The stuff is even hard to distinguish from cowhorn and tortoiseshell under the microscope, it is so similar. It is distinct from the teeth and the bony plates in the head that it is suspended from:



The inuit used to work it - like horn, it softens under extreme wet heat and can be bent to shape - it is thermoplastic. They also had a means of making it temporarily pliable by immersing it in a pot of urine. Delightful.

It can even be pressed like horn, with intricate patterns. Unlike horn, it can be in excess of 18 feet long per baleen bristle, hence its use for hooped skirts - and for whips. Queen Victoria had a baleen whip.

Incidentally, although it is not true bone, baleen became known as whalebone. People love confusing the issue, don't they?! Also, although you can have scrimshaw on baleen, you cannot have scrimshawed teeth form baleen bearing whales - they do not have teeth.



In the 1800s there was a huge amount of whaling going on. Places like Nantucket thrived because of the trade, and whale-processing colonies were set up barely off-coast. Indeed, the setting of one of my favourite books, Melville's Moby Dick finds the Peqod in Nantucket, picking up a crew to hunt the spermaceti whale in general and the great white whale who took Captain Ahab's leg - Moby Dick - in particular.

Call me Ishmael...

Regards,
Neil

Wow, this is why I come here! Thanks Neil, that was a lovely bit of scholarship brought to light in a most entertaining manner. Good on ya - as we say in Aus.

I've always wanted a knife or razor with narwhal handle/scales...a little off topic but we're talking whales Unfortunately, its a little pricey and hard to find (and illegal to import to the US). I did read a story about a narwhal horn 'ring' getting busted a while back up in Maine. Does anyone know if there's a pre-ban loophole like ivory?

Chris

Originally Posted by sharkbite111

I've always wanted a knife or razor with narwhal handle/scales...a little off topic but we're talking whales Unfortunately, its a little pricey and hard to find (and illegal to import to the US). I did read a story about a narwhal horn 'ring' getting busted a while back up in Maine. Does anyone know if there's a pre-ban loophole like ivory?

Chris

here ya go.
Boone Trading Company - Ivory and Scrimshaw