Whale men at sea often made gifts (made from whale bone, ivory, baleen, etc) for loved ones at home, with kitchen utensils and sewing accessories being favorites for wives and sweet hearts. Among the kitchen utensils, rolling pins, pastry cutters, and pie crimpers predominated, some of them reaching levels of complexity that is astounding. This example of a crimper is small and fairly simple when stacked against the most elaborate. But it has its charms. The tool is just 5 ¾ inches long, including a crimping wheel (or jagging wheel) that is only 1 ¾ inches diameter. The wheel is made from bone (Sperm whale mandible) and has four curved spokes or radii, making contact with the rim of the wheel that is crenulated to decorate the crimped edge of the pie crust. The center of the wheel (the hub) is pierced by and ivory axle that rotates within a fork (like the suspension of a bicycle wheel). On this crimper the fork tine on each side is in the shape of a hird head. Each tine widens to join the main body (or handle) of the crimper, which has engraved lines to represent the tail feathers of the bird. The handle extends a bit more than three inches back, being shaped like a knife blade (or perhaps the flowing tail of a bird. It is a simple, yet elegant, example of a crimper. Good+
