Hi Fearn

2 things spring to mind: Yes, these are so much easier to make then greenstone. I've heard reports of maori taking years to carve a patu from greenstone.

Bearing this in mind, the alternative is wood. And whalebone probably compares quite well to most woods in terms of strength.

Also, I wonder if being so porous ensures the bone is less likely to break. I wonder if it provides a certain springiness or flexibility, and hence a certain structural strength. I suspect it might.

Unfortunately, due to CITES, I can't easily make a new whalebone club to test its properties.

Not that I'm objecting to CITES, mind you. But I put this in the category with rhino-hide and turtle-shell shields, something to contemplate, but not to replicate.

Still, I'm not sure that porous bone is quite the same as fibrous wood. I've been contemplating the way whales move, and I haven't come to any good conclusions about the stresses their ribs face. If anything, I would expect rib bone to be stronger through the flat than along the edge, simply because whales inhale and exhale fast, and the ribs would bear the most strain against the curving flat of the rib. However, I know just enough physiology to know that explaining whale bodies tends to turn biomechanicists into gibbering idiots. So that's my guess.

Best,

F