Scrimshaw
Bone and shell carved into charms worth wearing. A whole equipment slot the other trades cannot fill.
Scrimshaw is the sailor's folk art, carving bone, shell and tooth into small charms that you actually equip. It is the artisan trade with the clearest payoff, because it fills a socket nothing else can fill. Nineteen charms exist across a set of motifs, and the one you carve and wear is a real build decision rather than a cosmetic one.
How Scrimshaw works
You carve charms from material Beachcombing and Fishing bring in. Each charm belongs to a motif family and carries an effect, and your character has a dedicated charm socket that sits alongside the ordinary equipment slots. One charm at a time, swapped freely, so the trade is a set of small standing choices rather than a consumable treadmill.
Because the socket is its own slot, a charm never competes with your weapon, armour or jewellery. That is deliberate. Scrimshaw is meant to be a lane a patient player can invest in without giving up anything they already wear.
Scrimshaw carries a mastery pool per motif, so the charms you carve most become cheaper and more reliable to make over a long career.
Inputs
- Bone, shell and tooth from Beachcombing and Fishing
- A Scrimshaw level at or above the charm you want to carve
Outputs
- Scrimshaw XP
- Nineteen charms across the motif families
- Per-motif mastery progress
Tips for training Scrimshaw
- The charm socket is separate from your other gear, so carving a charm costs you nothing you are already wearing.
- Carve the motif that matches what you actually do. A charm supporting a trade you never train is XP you could have spent elsewhere.
- Beachcombing is the cheapest way to keep carving stock coming in, and it banks while you are away.
- Per-motif mastery means specialising pays. Spreading thin across all nineteen is the slow road.
Skills that pair with Scrimshaw
The 28 trades aren't isolated. Scrimshaw works best alongside these:
Frequently asked about Scrimshaw
Can I wear more than one charm?
No. There is a single charm socket, and swapping is free, so the choice is which one is right for what you are doing rather than how many you can stack.
Where does carving material come from?
Mostly Beachcombing, with Fishing contributing shell and bone. Neither needs to be maxed to keep Scrimshaw supplied.
Is Scrimshaw in the free game?
No. Scrimshaw is part of the one-time $9.99 unlock, along with Chartwork and Shipwrighting. Beachcombing is free.
Train Scrimshaw on every Apple device.
Tideward is free in TestFlight alpha, native on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Vision Pro, and Apple Watch, no account needed. Join before launch and you are a Founding Tester: a permanent badge, first crack at every build, a vote on the roadmap, and your name in the credits when Tideward ships.