Steve Magill, Golden Trout scrimshaw on bone trapper knife, 4.125 inches closed. Each knife is one of a kind.
Scrimshaw is the art of engraving or carving on ivory, bone, or antler. This art dates back to the days of prehistoric man when early artists carved and inscribed pictures and images on animal bone and woolly mammoth tusk to produce long-lasting records of their lives and culture. In more recent times, scrimshaw became popular in the continental United States during the days of early American whaling. Sailors on long voyages would carve and draw on ivory teeth of whales, and the bones and baleen would be used, as well.