Does anybody know where I can buy Mother of Pearl suitable for
inlaying wooden boxes?
Also, how to cut Mother of Pearl, is it brittle etc? I'm hoping to cut
patterns that are quite detailed, I've seen it done (eg. www.koreanboxes.com).
And finally, is it expensive material?
Thanks,
Bini

Well, one source is luthier (stringed musical instrument) supply
houses like:

http://www.lmii.com/

or

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Inlay,_p...ay_Blanks.html

And yes it can be VERY expensive if you're going to do a larg amount
of it.



On Thu, 14 Jun 2007 02:11:42 -0700, wrote:

Does anybody know where I can buy Mother of Pearl suitable for
inlaying wooden boxes?
Also, how to cut Mother of Pearl, is it brittle etc? I'm hoping to cut
patterns that are quite detailed, I've seen it done (eg. www.koreanboxes.com).
And finally, is it expensive material?
Thanks,
Bini

wrote:
Does anybody know where I can buy Mother of Pearl suitable for
inlaying wooden boxes?
Also, how to cut Mother of Pearl, is it brittle etc? I'm hoping to cut
patterns that are quite detailed, I've seen it done (eg. www.koreanboxes.com).
And finally, is it expensive material?
Thanks,
Bini



Where do you live?

There are a lot of sources, especially in the Eastern US catchment basins.
Mikimoto used to buy his seeding beads from the Tennessee river mussels.

JJ

You can get it from Grizzly, the pres is a luthier.
wrote in message
oups.com...
Does anybody know where I can buy Mother of Pearl suitable for
inlaying wooden boxes?
Also, how to cut Mother of Pearl, is it brittle etc? I'm hoping to cut
patterns that are quite detailed, I've seen it done (eg.
www.koreanboxes.com).
And finally, is it expensive material?
Thanks,
Bini

writes:
Does anybody know where I can buy Mother of Pearl suitable for
inlaying wooden boxes?
Also, how to cut Mother of Pearl, is it brittle etc? I'm hoping to cut
patterns that are quite detailed, I've seen it done (eg. www.koreanboxes.com).
And finally, is it expensive material?
Thanks,
Bini


I'll second Bini's request for information about working mother-of-pearl. I've
some abalone shell fragments that I'd like to use for inlay, but the stuff is
_hard_.

scott

Scott Lurndal wrote:
writes:
Does anybody know where I can buy Mother of Pearl suitable for
inlaying wooden boxes?
Also, how to cut Mother of Pearl, is it brittle etc? I'm hoping to cut
patterns that are quite detailed, I've seen it done (eg. www.koreanboxes.com).
And finally, is it expensive material?
Thanks,
Bini


I'll second Bini's request for information about working mother-of-pearl. I've
some abalone shell fragments that I'd like to use for inlay, but the stuff is
_hard_.

scott

Here is one source of info:

http://www.inlay.com/inlay/pearl/pearl-1.html

A Google search will yield numerous suppliers.

On Thu, 14 Jun 2007 02:11:42 -0700, wrote:

Does anybody know where I can buy Mother of Pearl suitable for
inlaying wooden boxes?

In person, at rock and gem shows. It's a fraction of the price of the
knifemaker's suppliers, and they're in turn a fraction of the luthiery
suppliers

It's brittle, it's annoying and there's a dust hazard. Better grades
have a more constant thickness and a re bigger and flatter, all of which
makes it easier to work with.

IMHO, do some cow horn inlay work for practice first. The skills are
similar, but it's not so annoying brittle.

wrote:
Does anybody know where I can buy Mother of Pearl suitable for
inlaying wooden boxes?

I have no experience with this material, but when I saw your question
it reminded me that Grizzly sells Mother of Pearl[1].

[1]: http://www.grizzly.com/products/sear...0&su bmit.y=0

--

If you want to reply via email, change the obvious words to numbers and
remove ".invalid".

wrote:

Does anybody know where I can buy Mother of Pearl suitable for
inlaying wooden boxes?
Also, how to cut Mother of Pearl, is it brittle etc? I'm hoping to cut
patterns that are quite detailed, I've seen it done (eg.
www.koreanboxes.com). And finally, is it expensive material?
Thanks,
Bini


Take a look on Amazon at this book:

The Art of Inlay: Design and Technique for Fine Woodworking
by Larry Robinson

An excellent text by a guy who knows what he is doing. The covers alone
are worth looking at.

As for the rest, what everyone else said.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Does anybody know where I can buy Mother of Pearl suitable for
inlaying wooden boxes?
Also, how to cut Mother of Pearl, is it brittle etc? I'm hoping to cut
patterns that are quite detailed, I've seen it done (eg.
www.koreanboxes.com).
And finally, is it expensive material?
Thanks,
Bini


I don't know about Mother of Pearl, but I have done lots of work with
abalone shell.



First of all you need to wear a good mask so as to not breath the dust from
that stuff, it's likda nasty.



You can saw it with a fine jewelers saw, (have never used a scroll saw, but
I don't see why it wouldn't work). It is abrasive and will dull a saw blade
rather quickly.



You can sand it with a disc or belt sander. One thing you need to do is keep
it cook when sanding, the stuff gets real hot, and will crack if it gets too
hot. I just had a container of water close at hand, and would just douse it
to keep it cool.



The stuff polishes up really nice using jewelers rouge on a buffing wheel.