Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 February 1892 — Preparing Whalebone. [ARTICLE]

Preparing Whalebone.

A full-grown Greenland whale yields about a ton of whalebone. The whaling vessels usually bring it in pieces of ton or twelve blades each, but soinotlraos, if the voyage is long, the sailors have time to strip off each blade and divest it of its hairs. In preparing them for use tho blades are cleaned and softened by boiling for about two hours; while still hot they are llxed in large wooden vises and shaved into the required slices.