Mother of Pearl

C

Cubane

Well-Known Member
Hi everyone,

I have never used mother of pearl before but I found a local supplier (in Australia) of knife scales. So I ordered some black lip Mother of Pearl and it arrived today. It has a polished side which looks great but the other side varies greatly. Some of it is mostly shell from the looks of it up to half the thickness of it depending on the piece with some cracks and split off pieces on the back as well. Having not worked with mother of pearl before is this expected? or is it just really poor quality bits and pieces. Should I grind off the shell and thin it out? is the best looking mother of pearl with the most colour just below the shell is that why is it left on?

Alistair
 
with out looking, I can't tell you for sure but...
presentation grade (what ever that is - there is no standard - there is marketing though) should not have worm lines, thin spots or cracks. Lessor grades (what ever those are, again no standards here) you should expect to pay less.
A top of the line pair of black lipped MOP in say 1.5" x 5" might be $200 - if you can even find them that big. Black MOP in large sizes is very rare, expect to pay a lot for them. Flawless large scales can go for up to $350.


don't grind it thinner, use filler expoxy to make it thicker.
use new sharp bits. don't wreck a $50 set of scales by not spending another buck or two on a fresh drill bit.
when you drill a hole, lay it on a flat piece of scrap steel, drill it down so the very point of the drill bit just makes a dimple on the bottom side of the MOP, flip it over and finish the hole. This will minimize chips.
MOP gets scratched. you can sand it finer and finer, just like wood to get rid of scratches.

hope that helps.
 
We'll this stuff was a lot cheaper than that which probably explains a lot of it. 2 1/4 x 7/8 x 3/32 was the size I got. I'll take some pics when I get home hopefully it will help. I wasn't expected presentation grade but something that was actually usable as scales might be nice :) The place I got them from has offered to refund if they aren't suitable.

I can't see any worm holes but the backs are definitely covered in voids, cracks and chips. Even if I can fill up the voids etc I think there will be an obvious line on the side of the scale where the 2 materials join. Not having access to the knife community that exists over there in the US can be a pain sometimes. Thanks for the info.

Update: Here is a scan of it. What do you think? The front sides all look ok but not sure about the back.

pearl.jpg


Al
 
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It almost looks like the back sides have better colour thanthe fronts. A dead flat piece of pearl is not necessary for many knife applications. If you can afford it I would try very carefully sanding off the grey green on the backs to bring it all to colour and see what you end up with. Could be the flats become the tang side and the backs become the display side.
Steve
 
Alistair ,

I sand the backside carefully to relative flatness then supergleue a thin black vulcanized liner to the back to get greater flatness & thickness to the piece as well as fill in voids that are away from the edges. It is relatively easy to work compared to mammoth tooth , fossil coral , etc . You might consider getting a cheaper white piece for trial before going to the more expensive blacklip . Hope this helps.

Joe
 
SVanderkolff said:
It almost looks like the back sides have better colour thanthe fronts. A dead flat piece of pearl is not necessary for many knife applications. If you can afford it I would try very carefully sanding off the grey green on the backs to bring it all to colour and see what you end up with. Could be the flats become the tang side and the backs become the display side.
Steve
Click to expand...

With some of those pieces that have only just got a bit of shell crust on it that might be an option but with that top piece I would end up with some mop that is only 1mm thick. With that piece in particular I am concerned that if I round off the edges from the other side I will hit the shell and ruin a set of scales once they are on the knife.

joe sangster said:
Alistair ,

I sand the backside carefully to relative flatness then supergleue a thin black vulcanized liner to the back to get greater flatness & thickness to the piece as well as fill in voids that are away from the edges. It is relatively easy to work compared to mammoth tooth , fossil coral , etc . You might consider getting a cheaper white piece for trial before going to the more expensive blacklip . Hope this helps.

Joe
Click to expand...

This black lip was quite cheap (comparable to the white) so I am happy to use it but I do also have some white to try out.

Alistair
 
Before you sand the back I would CA glue the cracks and voids . Then it wont come apart or shatter.To me it looks like a poor picture rather than a poor shine and color on the front.
 
Gday Alistair,
A lot of the MOP scales i have also have the cracks and dull sections on the back side. I just super glue the cracks, sand flat on wet & dry, fill voids with sanding dust and super glue. With the black i would do the same but because it is usually very thin I would glue to a piece of liner material as well.

Cheers Bruce
 
Cheer Bruce,

I'll keep it and try it out. Hopefully I'll have something to show at the Melbourne Show.

Alistair
 
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