I like to cover my sub-woofer with ever-changing groups of knives. Scrimshaw knives get scrimshaw friends to hang out with.
Today I finally received a fine piece of scrimshaw art by Alaskan artist Michael Scott that I bought at the end of June. It had been sitting at my parcel forwarder's place for quite a while. I was very happy to see that it arrived undamaged after its long trips from Alaska to Pennsylvania and finally to me in Ontario.
It's a bear with salmon scrim done on a section of mammoth tusk that's pin-mounted to a petrified mammoth bone stand.
ebay just shut down the seller (who joined ebay in 2002 and has 100% positive feedback) due to their tightened ivory trade regulations. I'm glad I grabbed this piece a month before ebay sunk their business model. Obviously, I have no problem with Native Americans like Scott using ancient found mammoth ivory to create beautiful art (and income).
Looks fantastic surrounded by four Bill Feeney scrims and a couple bonus lockbacks. A sambar 1999 Calgary Stampede PH1 is on the centre channel.
One-of-these-days I will get a bigger TV and put my centre channel on a shelf. I'm too lazy to mount the shelf twice so the speaker is on an ugly cardboard box that is the right size.
Note the silver coloured wedge placed between the box and the speaker (to angle it towards my ears). That is a $100 extra-fine DMT diamond whetstone. Sadly, this is the only use I have for it. You can feel the knife catching on individual diamonds (clumps?) when you use it. Worst $100 I ever spent! I totally should have stuck with oil or water stones.
Along with the mammoth scrimshaw piece I received in the same box an old 4-pin 7OT from the first, short-lived 1979-1980 release and a whetstone from the same period (around 1980).
Here's the earliest type of 7OT shown with the earliest LB8-type knife, its UH144 serial-matched partner and the Beastly whetstone. Plan is to clean and polish all three. This would be the "before" picture.
The "1978 Christmas Edition" sets (staglon LB7 & UH144), representing various southern States, were the first use of staglon on a LB8-type knife. Note the brass shield on the "LB8". These sets are, to my knowledge, the only time a brass "Uncle Henry" shield was used. Schrade switched to nickel silver shields on LB8-type knives and never went back.
The Schrade Beast whetstone is a relic of Schrade's blink-and-you'll-miss-it "Schrade Beast" mascot campaign. "The Incredible Hulk" was a very popular TV show at the time and Schrade shamelessly tried to capitalize on that popularity. The Beast appeared (and then quickly disappeared) around 1980.
The stone is larger than I thought it would be when I was looking at pics. I'd call it a "medium-fine" stone designed for one-stop sharpening. I think it would actually be useful. I might sharpen some Schrades on it for full authenticity. I haven't decided yet. Stone is unused. My DMT-diamond-disaster might be good at lapping smaller stones flat again. Maybe I can put it to Beastly good use after all.