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Fossil Wooly Mammoth Molar.Keep looking around for the Tooth Fairy.
From advice given I did all the drilling and turning dry as fossil rock does not like water.
I joined with my wife The Canberra Lapidary Society to get the use of their diamond saws etc Not needed I used a small bandsaw that cut my blank in half ,glad I did sweet cut it made slowly. I checked in finally at the Mineshaft here in town run by a miner of Opal and all things Gem and Rock. He has 6 employees in Thailand and Bali who work all his fossil rock etc all using wood lathes,dry cutting.
I finished this pen last night late after turning for some hrs using an Easy tool and 4 way Carbide cutter, yes only one. Every hr after using the four faces I placed them face down muttered abra cadabra on a fine diamond file.Such sensitive a lovely material demands great care. I saved the powder generated in case of chips etc. No need. The Sirroco kit has tight design and demands a thinnish thickness of material at either end of the blank I kept it as thick as I could,the thought of press splits increasing the sphinctor factor.
I finish sealed it with two coats of CA, sigh of relief and tumbled into bed at midnight. Twenty thousand yrs demand respect IMHO.
Peter.
From advice given I did all the drilling and turning dry as fossil rock does not like water.
I joined with my wife The Canberra Lapidary Society to get the use of their diamond saws etc Not needed I used a small bandsaw that cut my blank in half ,glad I did sweet cut it made slowly. I checked in finally at the Mineshaft here in town run by a miner of Opal and all things Gem and Rock. He has 6 employees in Thailand and Bali who work all his fossil rock etc all using wood lathes,dry cutting.
I finished this pen last night late after turning for some hrs using an Easy tool and 4 way Carbide cutter, yes only one. Every hr after using the four faces I placed them face down muttered abra cadabra on a fine diamond file.Such sensitive a lovely material demands great care. I saved the powder generated in case of chips etc. No need. The Sirroco kit has tight design and demands a thinnish thickness of material at either end of the blank I kept it as thick as I could,the thought of press splits increasing the sphinctor factor.
I finish sealed it with two coats of CA, sigh of relief and tumbled into bed at midnight. Twenty thousand yrs demand respect IMHO.
Peter.