Tips on processing black lip mother of pearl?

[Fixall]

Hey Shop Talk!

I recently picked up a half dozen ~8" black-lip pearl oyster half shells to experiment with and was hoping someone might have a few tips on how to best process them. From what I have been told, it sounds like the darker, more colorful parts of the nacre is fairly close to the outer shell. Would it be better to grind through the outer shell into the darker nacre... Or grind through the lighter, surface nacre to reach the darker layers?

The half shells are fairly flat which is nice.

I don't have lapidary equipment on hand, but have just about every other tool you could imagine at my disposal.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Here is what I do when processing MOP and abalone:
A) Work one shell at a time. You will learn more and ruin less that way.
B) These shells are pretty fragile. Go slow.
C) Don't try to make huge scales if the shell has too much curvature. These are for folders and inlay, so you won't likely get a 3"X1" set of scales.

1) Wear a dust mask. It is not toxic as you will read online, but the fine dust is an irritant. The dust gets all over the place, so do it with a vacuum hose collecting the dust, or outside with a fan blowing the dust away.
2) Work it wet. This keeps the dust down a lot. If you have a mist spray setup. use it.
3) Work it slow and don't get it hot.
4) Mark the desired areas with a wax pencil. Cut out the best areas with a diamond cut off saw in a flex shaft or Dremel tool. If you have a diamond saw for cutting tile that works well, too. Go slow and let the blade do the cutting. Make the marks a bit larger than the desired scales. It tends to chip along the cut lines. I usually trim off the edges and cut it into larger squares/rectangles, then into strips and then cut those as needed into scale size pieces ... then start flattening.
5) Once you have the blanks cut, flatten one from the back side util you see the colors you want. Then flatten another one from the inside. Compare the two and decide the best direction to work the shell from. Proceed slowly from side to side to get what you like. Be aware that the good colors are very thin layers and trying to go "just a little more" can go right through the brilliant colors to plain shell.
6) Sometimes it gets very thin. If it is really pretty, you can laminate two pieces to get a thicker scale. CA works well for this.
7) Sand to 400-800 grit (hand sanding is best above 220 grit) and buff with matchless white (white rouge).
8) Set them all out on a table with good light above them and match sets as close as possible. Trim to equal size and tape together from the back side.
9) Put them on a knife and enjoy your work (or sell them to someone who will do that).

 

[Fixall]

Here is what I do when processing MOP and abalone:
A) Work one shell at a time. You will learn more and ruin less that way.
B) These shells are pretty fragile. Go slow.
C) Don't try to make huge scales if the shell has too much curvature. These are for folders and inlay, so you won't likely get a 3"X1" set of scales.

1) Wear a dust mask. It is not toxic as you will read online, but the fine dust is an irritant. The dust gets all over the place, so do it with a vacuum hose collecting the dust, or outside with a fan blowing the dust away.
2) Work it wet. This keeps the dust down a lot. If you have a mist spray setup. use it.
3) Work it slow and don't get it hot.
4) Mark the desired areas with a wax pencil. Cut out the best areas with a diamond cut off saw in a flex shaft or Dremel tool. If you have a diamond saw for cutting tile that works well, too. Go slow and let the blade do the cutting. Make the marks a bit larger than the desired scales. It tends to chip along the cut lines. I usually trim off the edges and cut it into larger squares/rectangles, then into strips and then cut those as needed into scale size pieces ... then start flattening.
5) Once you have the blanks cut, flatten one from the back side util you see the colors you want. Then flatten another one from the inside. Compare the two and decide the best direction to work the shell from. Proceed slowly from side to side to get what you like. Be aware that the good colors are very thin layers and trying to go "just a little more" can go right through the brilliant colors to plain shell.
6) Sometimes it gets very thin. If it is really pretty, you can laminate two pieces to get a thicker scale. CA works well for this.
7) Sand to 400-800 grit (hand sanding is best above 220 grit) and buff with matchless white (white rouge).
8) Set them all out on a table with good light above them and match sets as close as possible. Trim to equal size and tape together from the back side.
9) Put them on a knife and enjoy your work (or sell them to someone who will do that).

I knew you would have some wonderful info on this, Stacy. Thanks!

I put this on the back burner while I was doing some show prep for the PNWCI, but now I’m back at it.

I was shopping for a new 10” tile saw since I’m expanding in to Fatcarbon carbon fiber, and decided to go ahead and pick up an Ameritool flat wet lapper for the MoP while I was at it. I figure it will be useful for all of the Fordite and GRAFFite I have on hand too.

I’ll report back soonish with my results. Thanks again!