drilling pearls

Jim Smyth

Jim Smyth

Joined
Oct 4, 1998
Messages
696
I have tryed my first pearl scale knife. Came out pretty good but I have noticed that when drilling the holes, it tends to flake and chip where the drill goes into the pearl. I did use a new drill bit and ran the drill press at the slowest speed. Any help in this area would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
 
Hi CJ,

Pearl will soften a little when you get it wet. Try soaking it in room temp water for a few minutes befor you drill it, and put a bit of masking tape over the place where the bit will come through. Alway drill into a wood block as back up material.

No guarantees, but this will increase your odds of success considerably.

Hope this helps,

Gary Bradburn

p.s. I have had better luck running the drill at a higher speed. Practice on a scrap piece.

[This message has been edited by GARY B (edited 07 November 1999).]
 
i usually just barely start the hole....drill a pilot in the pre existing center....turn it over and drill the regular size....works for me...go slow and be careful and always use a new drill bit.
 
I once made some MOP dots for fret markers on guitars (also works with ivory). I used thin walled stainless tubing with an abrasive slurry (same technique used to drill glass). Coarse = faster cutting. Fine = better size control. keep the tube short and sharpen (square) the edge periodically. It's faster than you expect and the side benefit is that you get a dot instead of chips with every hole.

Bob Couture, the old engineer
 
A new drill and right speed will do the trick. I prefer a carbide twist drill running at about 2000 rpm 1/6 drill.. No chipping this way . The speed is so fast the pearl nevers see the cutter .. as they say :]
Drill it slow with just a small amount of pressure..


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