Bowhead whale rib

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Rick P

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Apr 30, 2011
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Palmer Alaska
Fossil whale rib, from my score over the weekend. It's been a LONG time since I turned a kit and I was dying to see this material on a pen so what the heck.......The colors are much stronger in person and range from flat out orange to cream, sometimes the eye just sees more than the camera.
 

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Honestly I wish I could hand it too ya.....the camera failed miserably on this one. Or my skilz did.

Color varies greatly depending on the conditions the bone laid in for centuries, this one was in a tannin rich environment....probably mud, not exposed to the water. It would be softer and have more voids if it spent the majority of it's time in direct contact with water.
 
This rib was well preserved.......truned better than some woods my lathe has seen. Like any old material care and sharp tools are key but just about any turner would find success with this. NOT all whale bone is.
 
Ok, you talked me into it, I gotta get some. I need to go dig up my yard looking for old whale bones. Do you think being 50 miles from the coast will be a hindrance?
 
Upper east coast there is no telling how far inland that stuff made it! But CAUTION Bowhead is currently the only legal whale product I know of and baleen from them is still off limits for white folks.....I stopped sales on it briefly when it looked like that may change. The feds will take everything you own if you get the species wrong and too my knowledge Bowheads never left the pacific.

The status on humpbacks is being reviewed.....if they are dropped from endangered that might change.
 
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Hate to say it, but I meant it more of a joke. Whaling was very big in New England and there are artifacts to be found, but it is also known for it's granite rocks as the Northeast was under major glaciers for many centuries, so finding many fossils in the ground like you found isn't going to be easy if not impossible. But, we can always dream...
 
I know how you meant it and whaling is why there is no telling how far inland you might find bone........it's really hard to fully express yourself by typing. My response was said with a "Knowing nod and a big grin". Alaska actually has a long and deep whaling history too. In fact many of the native villages still rely on whaling......Muktuk is a "interesting" culinary experiance!
 
I just bought a whale rib bone. The whale beached in 2004 on the Cape coast and the person that I bought it from picked it up some time after that. It is 2 meters long. Can make a lot of pens lol

Donovan
 
Donovan......CHECK YOUR LOCAL LAWS! I have no idea what South African officals would say about that but here in the US picking it up could mean jail time and selling it could cost you your house as well.
 
They shoot very well......honestly thats my main goal with slingshots. An effective fun too shoot weapon that will last.
 
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