Boy, you guys jumped right into my stuff. I make more gemstone handled knives than any single maker in the world. Period.
Most of the stuff you see out there is plastic rock, that is, acrylic or polyester with powdered dyes and maybe a bit of stone dust thrown in. This grates me. Companies and some unsurly characters who sell the stuff call it "stabilized." There is no such actual working description in the REAL gem world. Stone is classified as semi-precious or precious, or "gem," or "rock." Serious collectors stay away from plastic rock. It's just a hunk of colored plastic. Might as well make a handle out of a childs toy or a plastic car bumper if you're using that stuff.
bladsmth is right, to work real gem you need a complete lapidary shop. You'll need diamond lapidary saws that run under oil, wet lapidary grinders, wet silicon carbide or diamond sanders, small wet finishing tools, and an unbelievable amount of patience. There is a reason that most makers do not use stone, in that it takes a complete lapidary shop and the skill and training to run it.
And NO, you can't use your ceramic belts to grind gemstone on your belt grinder. It will smoke and burn and get hot, and though you may actually pull off a small handle, it will look smoked and burned and not polished. Your belts will absolutely be polished smooth within a minute. I know of some big time makers who have done this and actually sold the knives, but they really look like crap.
Speaking of crap, that is, fossilized dinosaur coprolite, please take a look at this knife. It IS dinosaur coprolite, that is, a gemstone replacement fossil that is actually microcrystaline quartz. So it is real stone, very hard, and difficult to work, finish and particularly to attach to a knife.
This knife is a collaboration with the late Gerry Hurst, and most of the work on the knife is mine. You can see other pictures and more information on this knife
HERE
Another concern raised in this post is the weight of the handle. Yes, there are special considerations necessary with rock, including but not limited to weight, strength, fracture potential, mechanical and adhesive bonding, some stones need sealing, there is cross-sectional area stability, fracs, vugs, voids, dispersion boundaries and other stuff. There are literally a dozen different polishing techniques, and you'll have to know the exact one to bring your stone to full luster. Working with rock is not for the faint of heart! There is a step where you SLAM the slab on a wood surface to see if it will break! Don't try this with mother of pearl!
I've made gem handles longer than anyone alive today, and more of them. In most of the shows and talk you hear about knives, I'm the guy they talk about with the rock handles. I've made probably a thousand. They can be made quite servicable (I have a bunch over in Iraq right now), and stone can be harder, more durable, and a heck of a lot more valuable than most other materials. In all the years, I've NEVER had one fail, NOT ONE. But working with it is a whole new ball game.
I love stone. It is fantastic in play of light, colors and patterns, intensity and feel. You know it instantly when you pic it up. On a well balanced knife, you won't want anything else after you've had the best. But them, I'm biased...
On your original post, Rod, your server must be completely clogged, because I can only recieve a bit of the pictures. But it is enough to know you're in posession of a piece of Petrified Wood, probably quartzine and calcite based. I don't know if this particuar piece would take an even polish, sometimes multiple material gems "dig" out softer areas inhibiting an even polish. Even so, I've used petrified wood a heck of a lot. And there are much more striking pieces and colors than white and tan and brown, though their modest statement can be quite beautiful if the cut is right. I could write a book on just how to cut a rock and see totally different and striking patterns, and I'm learning more all the time!
Did you know that there are 40 new minerals discovered each year?
Here are a few different and striking gem handled knives I've made:
Please take a look at my site, as you will see well over a hundred gemstone handled knives and learn a bunch about this practice. Incidentally, it is not new. The ancients have made gem handled knives in many cultures and for centuries, and some striking Persian jade inlaid with gold wire and globs of rubys and saphires comes to mind.
I could talk stone for hours, but I've actually got to engrave some stone right now. Oh, here's a pic of that kind of work in PETRIFIED PALM TREE WOOD (Jasper-very hard and tough):Learn more about this knife
HERE
