bulk shopping question

[Judy Harder]

Yes, it is steve. We used the pink mother of pearl and once in a blue moon with a certain shell it would be purplish.they were very pretty.
Only thing we made out of them is Randy and I played with jewelry mountings and he mostly cause he had a bit of expierence working for a jeweler in Wichita.....but they were small pieces and the dust was a factor.

One of the things Louie and one of his exwives made was smashed shells in molds of epoxy that he made into clocks. I thought they were hideous (to each their own) sold like hotcakes at fairs, etc.
But, when they were dealing with the resin, I could not breathe and would not pass out, but I got out of there fast. Still have trouble being around anything with the resin or stuff like it.
Did have some near misses ..................we weren't supervised by OSHA and they would have had a field day if they had been in the shop or work site with us. Louie loved bending the law. Another story and I better quit, this is the computer. Louie was one of a kind!

[srkruzich]

I used it to inlay.  Cutting was always a major issue. Sanding another issue and then your resins i didn't contend with but some of the epoxy glues i did.   The biggie is you do NOT want that dust in your lungs. VERY painful if you do.  ALso in your eyes. Thats not a good thing.

Some of the woods i have worked with you have to use respirator. Some of the wood has natural arsenic.  It will poison you as fast as taking a heaping spoonful as the dust is considered toxic and dangerous. You breathe it in and it takes 1/2 to 1/4 less to make you sick than if you ingest it. 

I never used it though in jewelry.  I stayed with cut stones.

[Judy Harder]

In the shop, I was mainly the sales person and usually the go-fer and when shells were cut, Randy used a band saw, and did slash his hand. Had to rush him to ER and stitches.
Found a wet (don't know what is is called.but used running water to cut (kind of like you would wet cut a ceramic tile.........that kind of saw?) don't remember. They did deer antlers that way once. You talk about stink...........I can still smell it. Was beautiful when it was cut and makes some pretty ornaments if you like that kind of stuff.
I think I mainly enjoyed seeing the inner shells and all the beauty of them with our without jewelry making. Abalone and anyway, I can still see them and it is a good thing.
And of course talking with all the people who throught the shop was a nice place to visit and we always liked to talk. What else is new??? I like stone, to but never got to the grinding stage. just admiring!

[sixdogsmom]

Thanks Judy for posting about the mussels, I knew that you had worked with them but did not know it was that large an operation.

[Diane Amberg]

I only know those saws as "water saws." I learned a lot today.Thank you.

[srkruzich]

Tilesaw.  but i think they make a jewelers saw that has the water to keep the dust out ofthe air and to cool the shell.

[Judy Harder]

That is what it was Steve, a jewelers saw. Kept a little bit of water running and it did help with the dust.
The horns/antlers they cut smelled like burnt hair, and stayed in the shop for a long time.
Going to call it a day.
Computer has had enough of my eyeballs today. See you tomorrow after church. keep the battles down and play nice!

[srkruzich]

That is what it was Steve, a jewelers saw. Kept a little bit of water running and it did help with the dust.
The horns/antlers they cut smelled like burnt hair, and stayed in the shop for a long time.
Going to call it a day.
Computer has had enough of my eyeballs today. See you tomorrow after church. keep the battles down and play nice!

deer bone and antler you have to wear respirator now to work.  Too big a chance that you could get cjb disease from the dust.  Since antler and bone have nerve tissue that the prions reside in you have to wear a niosh mask to keep it out of your system.  Plus it is advised to wear nitrile (not sure if this is right) gloves to keep it from  getting in through the skin.   Niosh is basically what you use for pesticide application or things like painting. 

I personally don't cut the layers of abalone or mother of pearl. I buy the sheets that are cut. I suppose i could do it with my bandsaw but honestly its just too much trouble to get it the proper thickness.  When you deal with inlay like i do the thinner it is the better.  For cutting out the abalone for my inlays i have a jewelers hand saw. ITs basically a c clamp type saw with very very fine diamond blades.  I also have diamond bit sets to do the fine work.  The other thing i love to do is take tourmaline and cut it and inlay the thin slices into my projects.  Makes beautiful bird inlays.

[Judy Harder]

Except for working with the shell chips, most of our jewelry came from the American Shell Company for resale. Already mounted and packaged. That was fun, opening up a shipment and seeing what was in it.
Some of the nicer fresh water pearl Randy's brother, Rod (He is a jeweler in Wichita) made up into earrrings and necklaces and were just georgous.
I talked to one of the harvesters at church this morning. In fact he and his wife, who is Louie's daughter did the shucking and sorting up at Lake Perry, we like reliving it. As hard physically as it was, we did make some money.
That summer I remember the best, a lot of teens and youth treated it like a summer job. Probably worked harder at then putting up hay or sacking groceries or flipping burgers. We adults didn't do too bad either..............we were known to drink it up, and party hardy, but still had a nice piece of change.
We did need a harvester/trappers license to work them and that was very little back then. I think less than 20$, pay back was earned first good harvest. Louie did pay well of course, he made it back PLUS when the truck went out.Thanks for the memories.

[Dee Gee]

Thank you, Judy, for the memories I enjoyed reading them.