Fossil coral

[Bama]

I got some fossil coral from fine Turnage never used any of the fossils, any tips on drilling/cutting or finishing This stuff it is small pieces for bolsters

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

fresh belts, slow speed, hand sanding to finish, take to 2000+ grit, sharp drill bits, even feed, low pressure, avoid any heat buildup.

 

[R.C.Reichert]

I worked at a rock and gem store and we used belt sanders that had a water feed going to them to do stuff like fossil/stone. I don't think you'd want to work something like that dry. Also probably go with diamond bits for drilling.

 

[zerogee]

If you're going to do any buffing, I'd recommend finishing the coral with superglue first (assuming it hasn't been stabilized) -- most fossil coral is at least a little bit porous - without the superglue filling in the pores, the buffing compound and black metal bits from buffing get into the pores and make it look bad.

 

[Bama]

I think it has been stabilized

 

[gixxer]

http://www.knifehandles.com/fossil-coral.html

They say that lapidary equipment is not needed, and make no mention of needing a constant flow of water over the piece. just like anything else I would work slow to keep the heat down.

I do not honestly know, but if fossil coral is the calcium leftovers after the stuff dies, why would somebody try to stabilize that? Unless the pores are just filled in?

 

[R.C.Reichert]

I guess that's different than the stuff we worked with at the rock store... the stuff we used was literally like stone...and so hard you could not even scratch with regular hand tools.