Abalone Question

[unclej]

i use a good bit of abalone for jewelry making but have never used it for inlays..which i'm thinking of doing. while cutting and shaping abalone with my diamond bits i have noticed that it will chip a bit..and when i say chip i mean the top layer flaking off a bit and leaving a somewhat duller layer below it.

question..if you inlay a slightly curved piece of abalone and leave it a bit proud and then sand it down flat will it be dull or bring up another layer of the full color and pattern of the top layer?

thanks

unclej

[thegarehanman]

You should be able to sand/buff the abalone back to [or very close to] its original appearance. This is how dots and all other inlays on radiused fretboards are typically done. A word of caution though: sand the abalone too thin and it will start to turn lighter or darker shades depending on what wood is beneath it. With this color change it will also start to look a bit hazy and lose its prismatic/reflective qualities. How thick is this stuff? If it's around the .05" or .06" area, you should be good. Just inlay it as close to the surface as possible. Also, with inlays that span the whole width of the fretboard, you'll probably want to route and radius the fretboard before inlaying to avoid sanding through the peaces at the edges.

peace,

russ

Edited December 12, 2006 by thegarehanman

[Mattia]

If it's good shell, there's nacre through and through, but every bit you sand down will lead to very different patterns, reflections, colour flash. So if you're counting on that exact look from that precise piece, don't sand it too much.

[unclej]

thank you both for the info. i'm actually going to be inlaying it on a small bandsaw box as opposed to a neck. i've found some that is fairly flat and won't need too much sanding so i should be fine.

thanks again

unclej

[cSuttle]

i use a good bit of abalone for jewelry making but have never used it for inlays..which i'm thinking of doing. while cutting and shaping abalone with my diamond bits i have noticed that it will chip a bit..and when i say chip i mean the top layer flaking off a bit and leaving a somewhat duller layer below it.

question..if you inlay a slightly curved piece of abalone and leave it a bit proud and then sand it down flat will it be dull or bring up another layer of the full color and pattern of the top layer?

thanks

unclej

How are you cutting this that it is chipping on the top level? "Diamond bit", so can I assume you are using a router of some sort? I use a router in my CAM machines but that is very different than by hand. If you are using a router, you may not be using enough spindle speed. I have found that faster spindle speed like you would find on a dremel at 2/3 speed is the best for cutting most shells. If you are using a router by hand though, I would suggest that you check out do it with a jeweler's saw instead.

[unclej]

i've only made three or four pairs of earrings so far and am holding the abalone in one hand and a dremel with a diamond burr in the other. it hasn't been a major problem or occurence..just happened a couple of times and i was probably rushing things instead of letting the burr do the work.

i've also found for my use that i can do some pretty good rough shaping by usind my stationary belt sander or spindle sander and holding the abalone in my hand.

if i do some detailed inlay i'll definitely use my jewelers saw.

thanks

j

i use a good bit of abalone for jewelry making but have never used it for inlays..which i'm thinking of doing. while cutting and shaping abalone with my diamond bits i have noticed that it will chip a bit..and when i say chip i mean the top layer flaking off a bit and leaving a somewhat duller layer below it.

question..if you inlay a slightly curved piece of abalone and leave it a bit proud and then sand it down flat will it be dull or bring up another layer of the full color and pattern of the top layer?

thanks

unclej

How are you cutting this that it is chipping on the top level? "Diamond bit", so can I assume you are using a router of some sort? I use a router in my CAM machines but that is very different than by hand. If you are using a router, you may not be using enough spindle speed. I have found that faster spindle speed like you would find on a dremel at 2/3 speed is the best for cutting most shells. If you are using a router by hand though, I would suggest that you check out do it with a jeweler's saw instead.

[cSuttle]

i've only made three or four pairs of earrings so far and am holding the abalone in one hand and a dremel with a diamond burr in the other. it hasn't been a major problem or occurence..just happened a couple of times and i was probably rushing things instead of letting the burr do the work.

i've also found for my use that i can do some pretty good rough shaping by usind my stationary belt sander or spindle sander and holding the abalone in my hand.

if i do some detailed inlay i'll definitely use my jewelers saw.

thanks

j

Yes that burr would be the problem. If you want to use a dremel in this manner, try using a sanding drum. If you use the rough sanding drum, this will take down the shell pretty fast and give you a lot more control.