According to William Scoresby, whalebone was generally brought back from Greenland in much the same state that it was taken from the whale. It was usually divided into portable junks, or pieces, comprising 10 or 12 plates of baleen, occasionally it was divided into individual pieces, and the gum and fringing "hairs", removed at sea. The photograph shows two seamen splitting off individual plates of baleen. They are using a piece of whale tail as a chopping block. The hairs on the inside edges of the baleen plates can clearly be seen.

Shetland Museum
Splitting whalebone