Whaler's Mincing Knife
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Object Details
- Description
- Whaling crews used mincing knives to cut the blubber strips into thin slices down to, but not through, the thick whale skin. This process increased the surface area of the blubber and helped it melt faster in the try-pots. Cut in this fashion, the sections of whale blubber and skin were known as “bible leaves” because they resembled the pages of a book.
- 1876
- collected
- 1876
- ID Number
- AG.025912
- accession number
- 005019
- catalog number
- 025912
- Object Name
- mincing-knife
- Physical Description
- cast steel (blade material)
- iron (back-frame material)
- hard wood (handles material)
- steel (feruls material)
- wood (sheath material)
- Measurements
- overall: 36 1/2 in; x 92.71 cm
- blade: 24 in x 3 1/2 in; 60.96 cm x 8.89 cm
- sheath: 25 in; x 63.5 cm
- Place Made
- United States: Massachusetts, New Bedford
- Related Publication
- Brown, James Temple. The Whale Fishery and Its Appliances
- On the Water online exhibition
- Related Web Publication
- http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater
- See more items in
- Work and Industry: Fisheries
- Cultures & Communities
- Work
- Natural Resources
- Transportation
- On the Water exhibit
- Exhibition
- On the Water
- Exhibition Location
- National Museum of American History
- National Museum of American History
- used
- Whaling
- related event
- The Development of the Industrial United States
- Record ID
- nmah_867028
- Metadata Usage (text)
- CC0
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ac-1bd3-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
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