Replies

1. 
   hammer1 | Oct 30, 2005 08:48am | #1

   Shells are calcium carbonate which is quite hard. You won't have much luck with an old plug cutter. Most modern manufacturers use diamond saws and are particular about the shell quality. You can buy all kinds of Mother of Pearl products that are prepared as well as some tool supplies from the site below.

   http://www.luthiersupply.com/dotsstripspage.html

   Beat it to fit / Paint it to match

1. 
   Malcolm | Oct 30, 2005 09:14am | #2

   Thanks for that source Hammer!

   I've struggled with exactly this problem for years, and have given up!

   Recently I bought some button-sized 'dots', but I have a bag full of complete paua (abalone) shells collected from a beach on the south coast of the South Island of New Zealand that I would love to be able to cut circular pieces from!

   There is a supplier in NZ of a product that I have used with some sucess - a paua/abalone veneer that is available in 6 by 4 inch (and maybe larger) sheets. Also black pearl and mother of pearl.

   If someone can suggest a method for cutting circles from shells, I'd love to know how!

   Malcolm

   http://www.macpherson.co.nz

    

   Edit - I have had some sucess gluing shell to thin hardwood boards and cutting both together. I suspect that very fine teeth moving fairly fast is one answer to cutting shell, and I notice that the luthier supplier's Viet Nam workers seem to be using fret saws. I asked my local jewellery wholesaler, and she thought the button manufacturers used lasers or somesuch.

   Edited 10/30/2005 5:12 am ET by Malcolm

1. 
   hammer1 | Oct 30, 2005 04:22pm | #3

   Native Americans made wampum, which was small beads made from shells. My understanding is that they used abrasion, sandstone and other such materials to shape and drill the shells. This certainly wasn't an easy task and wampum bead work holds an esteemed place in history. Belts and weaving signify some of the most important agreements between whites and Indian nations. Wampum had value and significance beyond what many modern people can fathom. Some of that value must come from the difficultly in making it. Here's a couple of interesting links.http://www.nativetech.org/wampum/wamphist.htm
   http://www.kstrom.net/isk/art/beads/wampum.htmlBeat it to fit / Paint it to match

2. 
   Hempstalk | Oct 30, 2005 08:07pm | #4

   Telemike,

   Don't give up just yet. If you would like to make some dots from those shells you have here's a way that works quite well for small quantities. I've learned a bunch of stuff from a book by James E. Patterson titled Pearl Inlay. It's been around for years and was for a long time considered "the" book for shell inlay. I have scanned the page you need and attached it. There's lots of information in this book and I would highly recommend it. Good luck

   Cheers

   
1. 
   JohnWW | Oct 31, 2005 06:01am | #5

   Excellent technique, useful for all sorts of materials. I seem to recall that the dust from cutting mother of pearl is at least irritating and possibly a true health hazard, does the book mention this?John W.

2. 
   Telemike | Oct 31, 2005 06:06am | #6

   Thanks for the scan. I think that I can made dots that way.Whatever the availablility of commercial dots, there's something special about cutting them myself from abalone I picked off the rocks just south of Anchor Bay, on the northern coast of the state of confusion. You can tell I'm not making a living with inlaid abolone dots!