Whalebone stain

[Granmaa]

Hello fellow argentophiles,
Here is a punch ladle made from a coin with a gilded 1787 shilling in the centre. Probably dates to c.1795. This ladle has a whalebone handle; previously I had (stupidly) supposed that whalebone was the deep black colour that you see on this sort of ladle. Now I realise that it has to be stained. This handle has been left in sunlight it seems, and the top side is bleached to an unattractive yellowy brown colour.
I was wondering if anyone knows what was used to stain the bone in the Georgian period and what I could use now to return its splendour.

Miles



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[dognose]

Hi Miles, I suspect then, they used a variety of ingredients of whatever there was to hand. Sailors when staining their scrimshaw carvings used to use soot and oil. For the staining of whalebone (baleen) they probably used vegetable dyes, I presume they twisted them by steaming like they do with bentwood chairs? any ideas,
regards Trev.
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[admin]

Hi Miles,
I don't believe they are stained. I once pulled some baleen stays out of a wrecked victorian corset, they were sewn in and were never intended to be seen, but they had the same coloring as every toddy ladle handle I've seen. I think the whitish lines that occur develop from separation of the filaments that make up baleen. Similar to horn or hoof, it is structurally like glued together hair. Try rubbing in a dab of mineral oil, shouldn't harm it and may fill in the air pockets.

Regards, Tom

ps. for those concerned, we are talking about 200 year old materials here.
pps. yes, they steamed it to soften for twisting.
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[dognose]

Hi Tom, Excuse my ignorance but is whalebone (baleen) a term, and not actually the bones of a Whale? if so where does it come from?
regards Trev.
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[admin]

Hi Trev,

http://museum.nhm.uga.edu/gawildlife/gl ... ssary.html

scroll down to B for a better definition than I could give.

Tom

ps. It was used for toddy ladle handles because it holds up well to immersion and it floats if it falls into the punch. I've seen it on British, French and one (possibly) American ladles. Every German and Scandinavian punch ladle I've come across has had a wooden handle.
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[Granmaa]

You're absolutely right Tom: I made a discreet scrape on the handle, and it is black underneath. I might try emery paper to get rid of the thin layer of light brown. What do you think?

Miles
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[admin]

Personally, I think it is fine the way it is. If you sand it, you'll lose the nice sharp edges and original tool marks. As it is, it is in origin condition (except, of course, for the coin) and that is always a plus.
Regards, Tom
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[Kresent]

I use baleen in my sgian dubh (knife) making. It is not actually bone, it is the filters found in the mouths of filter feeding baleen whales. It polishes nicely with rouge but will burn if subjected to much friction producing heat.
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[Hose_dk]

Stop stop stop. We are talking about a very old thing and you will proberly make more damage than good. Dont remove material.

What hapened when you gave it some oil? olive oil would be fine. If it do not become black - then use it the way it is. One should never remoove material from antiques unless its absolutely messaserry - and at your laddle - that is not the case.
Remooving material is a process with no possibility of return.
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