Official Luthiers Forum!

I'm sitting here and cutting up some ablam. Thought I would give it a try. It worked okay on larger pieces but when it comes to the small ones it is not so good.

Pieces flaked off the small corners making them useless. After I glued them down and scribed around them I scrapped them off with a razor as I usually do, but this time I split some leaving 1/4 of the piece still glued to the wood. Maybe it's me or maybe it's just bad shell or maybe that's just the nature of ablam.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Yeah, Joe, I like it. It's different than solid shell, and takes a slightly different approach. And, it has a slightly different look. But by and large, it is faster.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Love the stuff . it is more enviromentally friendly and will work easier than solid pearl
john hall

Joe,
I feel your pain .
It definitely needs a lighter touch. The frustration factor seems to determine whether or not you go with solid shell or not.
I'll typically go with a smaller blade,(4/0 or 6/0), when cutting abalam to cut down on the agressiveness of the cut. On occasion, I've tried cutting a delicate piece half way, then carefully wicking a bit of thin CA on the edge. This seems to help with small fractures, especially near a pointed end.
Abalam has it's strong points and uses. I'm still learning too...

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Paul Bordeaux
http://www.bordeauxinlay.com

In some cases, those little chips (or delaminations) will be invisible under CA. They will just apear as a vein and different color pattern in the shell.

Ablam serves its porpose very well. I prefer real shell but if you are inlaying flat and not sanding much ablam is good stuff. Real shell will flake off as well inperticular Paua. but with real shell you can sand without gitting strange patterns fro the lower laminations showing through a thinly sanded upper lamination.MichaelP38807.3711689815

Thanks for the feed back. I thing I will go lightly with the cutting. I probably won't use it much more until I get a little better at inlay work. Real shell does cut well, I think I'll stick with it for the time being...

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust