You don't need much to practice the ancient art of scrimshaw, and the only scrimshaw tool you actually need is a needle. That's right, sailers often used a sail needle, which has a triangular head, to make their scrimshaw. Of course, other tools are helpful and you needn't limit yourself to only a needle, unless you want to.
Brian also shares an example of the stipple method done on a whale tooth, we're guessing around 1861. The stippled holes are clearly triangular, so would have been done with a sail needle.
Ingenious Contrivances, Curiously Carved: Scrimshaw in the New Bedford Whaling Museum:
amzn.to/3aF8k2u (Affiliate url)
Less expensive (as of date of video publish):
store.whalingmuseum.org/colle...
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Brian Stockman is a master carver with a deep knowledge of traditional wood, stone, bone, and ivory carving.