MARGRET HUNTRESS wrote:
My sister-in-law makes jewelry and loves cocobolo. She has asked me if I
could turn some small beads for necklaces. The beads need to be no larger
than 1mm, and must have a hole drilled in them for the necklace filament.
Does anyone have any suggestions for me before I start? Any help would be
appreciated.


I hope you mean 1cm!

I made some a while back. I turned a dowel between centers, small enough
to fit in the 1" jaws and through the headstock. Then with about an inch
protruding, face off and drill a hole the length of the intended bead.
Then turn the bead and part off with the skew. Sand the parted end as
necessary.

Before you start, clean up all the shavings under the lathe or you stand
a good chance of loosing most of these fiddly little blighters.

I oiled and buffed them off the lathe by threading them on to a
straightened out paper clip with just the ends bent up to keep the beads
on. This made them reasonably convenient to handle.


--
Derek Andrews, woodturner

http://www.seafoamwoodturning.com
http://chipshop.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/toolrest/