Thinking about trying to do some inlays. Anyone work with Obsidian Glass?

D

Don in SC

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Feb 6, 2011
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I've got a couple pieces of very nice ranbow obsidian that's too small to knap into PKP's. I'm thinking that it should look really nice cut and inlaid in white bone scales. Two questions.

First, Route chanels for the inlay's and glue up the stone before glueing to knife tang? seems like the best way to me at least working out how in my head.

Second, best method for working the two matterials. Bone is rather forgiving to grind on. I know from experiance Odsidian is not and chips easily. Anyone try using Obsidian and how/what tricks/technigues seems to work and not work. I firmly believe in learning from others mistakes as well as my own. LOL
 
I haven't done inlays with obsidian, but have polished a lot and I suggest using diamond grinders. The harder the grinding material and finer the grain, the less chips you will have.
 
thanks Peter. I've got a few diamond files I'll start withone of those to see how it cuts and see iff I can use it to shape the stone with.

Stacy there,s two problems with Ebony. One I dont have any, LOL. Two I've never seen any with pretty green, gold, red and pink metalic flames in it like this obsidion. Could be some Ebony I never seen i guess. You got some rainbow ebony? LOL
 
are you going to be able to see the colors after it's tacked to a wood handle? are you planning on backing it with something reflective? sounds like an interesting idea, but having knapped a bunch of obsidian i know i wouldn't want to have to try to get it into a precise shape. have you considered just using some flakes and sizing your inlay to the pieces that already exist?

looking forward to seeing more on this, i've got some nice red, white and black obsidian in the basement!

by the way, the only time i've seen green and pink in obsidian (not that i've seen a TON of the stuff but i have played with a few different chunks..) is when the light is refracting off internal cracks in the stuff, are these actual veins of color? got pics?
 
Obsidian is an "easy" one to polish. Rough shape it with the diamond files in a little tupperware under water. Get it to a nice 600 grit polish and buff it with an aluminum oxide based polish.

Of course that's like saying making a knife is as easy as grinding it and putting on the handle, there is a little more to it than that.

As far as inlaying in bone keep in mind the bone will want to undercut as it is softer. Obsidian is chippy stuff, I hope this knife will be more of an art piece or display knife. The ebony would be functional and less dangerous if dropped and safer to work with. I get cut every time I handle a lot of obsidian.

Good luck! Try backing the obsidian with different colors, metal, black, white, blue etc for different looks.

This reminds me I have a big bag of Mexican Rainbow Obsidian slabs hiding behind my Diamond Genie that I need to cut! I have a lot of purple rainbow and green and silver sheen...
 
jameson obsidian comes in hundreds of colors other than black, red, brown, clear. most are opaque so light does not pass through. Rainbow is like the silver sheen stuff but has different disolved gasses trapped in micro bubbles. the colors you see are reflected light and not light passing through like colored glass. Each gas has it's on color or reflectivity. There is no need to a relfective backing as light will never reach further than a few micro meters into the stone to start with.

Daniel you've given me an idea. I could treat the obsidian as a gem stone. polish the out side surface afther cutting and fitting the scales. Attact the scales with just a hard wood insert to shape and finish the handle. Remove the wood filler and replace with the stone. Use like two part putty adhesive to level and a good slow set supper glue to set it in place. I think that this would be safer if not even a bit easier than trying to finish the bone and stone as you mention the two are so different it would be dificult to keep each level to each other and still get a good finish on both.

This is a picture of some rainbow. Not mine as mine does not have the blue in it. Wish it did.
http://www.inoutstar.com/images/Obsidian-The-Mysterious-and-Truthful-Stone-6144.jpg
 
yep, it's some nice stuff. makes sexy arrow heads. Wish mine had the blue but you can only buy what's forsale. You can find alot of obsidian on fleebay but you dont know if it's sound or has flaws until you get your hands on it. The stuff I have looks just like the picture but a little tighter lines kind of like colored tree rings. I think if I can pull it off it will look very nice.
 
Don, that is some beautiful obsidian!

By the backing, I know what you mean, it won't influence the rainbow. I have noticed that sometimes the backing can be seen so I mentioned it. ... it's nothing compared to backing a "moonstone" with lapis or black jade, no real effect.

I came from a turquoise cutting background so I always think backing, lol... JB Weld for turquoise!
 
I'm thinking a nutural or whitest glue for this. Probly a two part. I'm worried a glue with color like JB will show a dark ring arround the stone and white bone. I've used the new gorila glue that's clear with some success but it likes materals with pores like wood. Not sure it will take to stone/glass. I've got some five minute two part we use on aircraft and it's tuff and chemical resistant. But it's real five minute glue. It's done at five minutes weather you are or not. LOL
I'll glue a couple pieces of scrap together I guess to see how it looks with the gorila and test the break away strength. Thanks for the feed back guys. Opened my mind up to a new approach. Donald
 
Epoxy 330 is a good one for this purpose.

I just use the JB weld as a hidden backing for thin stones or fracture prone stones like the local silver ore I like to cut.
 
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