| Official Luthiers Forum! http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/ |
|
| Cutting and laminating shell? Crushing shells for inlays? http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=27731 |
Page 1 of 1 |
| Author: | JRE Productions [ Mon Jun 07, 2010 2:06 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Cutting and laminating shell? Crushing shells for inlays? |
Hi Guys Last week I got back from a trip to Mexico, Rivera Maya. I found some wonderfull pink, yellow and red shells on the beach. I gather a handfull of the flattest shells I could find. My original thought was that I could cut some inlays out them, but I notice most are very thin and still have a slight arch to them. So my next thought was to crush/break them into smaller pieces and make a laminate with epoxy or something. So the theory I thought of was to use a pie tin or similar and coat the bottom with epoxy and lay the shells on top. Then brushing more coats of epoxy over that. Once dried, I could remove it from the tin and send it thru the drum sander (or block level it...?). Could I even come close to making a sheet product out of this? Is there other ways to do this? If nothing else, I could make dot inlays, but what a waste of time and beauty. Joe |
|
| Author: | Barry Daniels [ Mon Jun 07, 2010 2:26 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Cutting and laminating shell? Crushing shells for inlays? |
When crushed, the pieces will shift and lose their reflective quality. It ends up looking dull and lifeless. If they are too thin to use for dots or other small pieces then they are not really very useful for inlays. |
|
| Author: | JRE Productions [ Mon Jun 07, 2010 4:08 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Cutting and laminating shell? Crushing shells for inlays? |
Even when polished back up? Joe |
|
| Author: | Michael Smith [ Mon Jun 07, 2010 5:16 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Cutting and laminating shell? Crushing shells for inlays? |
I'm wondering if it would work better if after crushing you screened them to get a good size for inlay. You could pack it in dry and flood with CA? I just did a shell inlay and after sanding an 1/8" worm hole in the shell turned up. I can't decide if I should try to fix it or have it be part of the art. |
|
| Author: | Barry Daniels [ Tue Jun 08, 2010 3:20 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Cutting and laminating shell? Crushing shells for inlays? |
Yes, even when polished it will not be reflective, but will have a rather dull whitish appearance. Look at the edge of a piece of MOP to get a preview. |
|
| Page 1 of 1 | All times are UTC - 5 hours |
| Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group http://www.phpbb.com/ |
|