Turquoise?

[tim self]

I thought it would be nice to make a pen with a true turquoise blank. After further consideration, I figured "dummy, you're wanting to turn a rock".

What are the common tools minus a heavy duty hoggin' tool would you use to turn one of these babies? I know it's hard but wanting to know anyway.

Thanks

 

[NewLondon88]

Oops.. my bad. I saw 'true turquoise' and I was thinking
TruStone turquoise.

Ok, that's it. No more pouring scotch over my Cheerios..

 

[skiprat]

Charlie, he said TRUE turqoise, not the re-constituted stuff we buy for pens.
I wouldn't use it ( the real stuff ) as it scratches easily and yellows over time from skin oils. I also think that you would have more problems just drilling it than turning it.

 

[Gary Max]

You don't use wood tools for turning rock-----Diamond tools ger-er-done.

 

[bitshird]

I thought it would be nice to make a pen with a true turquoise blank. After further consideration, I figured "dummy, you're wanting to turn a rock".

What are the common tools minus a heavy duty hoggin' tool would you use to turn one of these babies? I know it's hard but wanting to know anyway.

Thanks

Tim It would be nearly impossible to turn a pen from Natural Turquoise, it would be more prone to fracture than alabaster or marble. However it could be done using stabilized turquoise, Indian Jewelers Supply in Gallup NM. carries large pieces of stabilized Turq. mostly from Kingman AZ.. actually the company that does most of their stabilizing Colebaugh <sp> and sons, is in Kingman, but the stone is still closer to real turquoise than trustone. Any way it is stabalized specifically for carving, not sure what it costs now but it used to run about 60.00 a pound, we used to get pieces that weighed close to 6 pounds. it is still quite a bit harder than the original trustone, BUT if you took your time, did most of the work on a belt sander, kept it cool, you could get it rounded to a point that lathe turning might be possible, the worst part of course would be cutting it and drilling it.
A good drill bit, not the HF junk something like a Norseman or Cleavland twist drill co. would do it, but you have to use water while drilling, and it would still need to be cut to rough size with a Diamond saw blade, Like a cheap tile saw.
In the end, your better off getting the pliable trustone, there is alot more polyester in it but also a lot less head ache, and Turquoise is still a copper aluminum phosphate, NOT good to breath.

 

[scotirish]

Gary......less time watching the Comedy Channel and more time in the shop will Ger-er-done faster.

 

[JOEHILL7]

I HAVE A BLOCK OF STABILIZED TURQUOISE THAT I BOUGHT A FEW YEARS AGO TO MAKE JEWELRY. I CUT A BLANK FROM IT WITH THE BAND SAW DRILLED AND TURNED WITH NO PROBLEMS. IT DOES CONTAIN REAL TURQUOISE AND IS A BIT HARDER THAN TRUSTONE.
MUCH NICER THAN TRUSTONE ALSO.
I THINK IT CAN STILL BE PURCHASED AT WWW.RIOGRANDE.COM
JOE

 

[Stick Rounder]

I too have been wanting to turn stone pens. I found diamond drill bits in every size at MSC Direct. 10mm Jabber Bit $107.00, the tool for turning $130.00 from exoticvessels.com I'll get to it, I have the turning tool. Those one hundred dollar drill bits though...

 

[NewLondon88]

I THINK IT CAN STILL BE PURCHASED AT WWW.RIOGRANDE.COM

As a rule, I don't do business with websites that make you trade your
personal info just to look at the site. If a login is required just to view
the site, I'm out.

Bond.
James Bond

 

[bitshird]

I've been doing business with the Bell group for over 30 years They are the ones that own Rio Grande Albuquerque, They are a bit higher on most of their tools and materials But they are above reproach. It was started back in the 40s today it is probably the largest Jewelers supply company in the world, seconded by Stuller in Louisiana, that is a hard group to deal with!
The reason I initially recommended Indian Jewelers supply they are still a fairly small company they probably don't do over 3 to 4 million a month, Rio does that in a day.
I've known the Bell brothers, and their late uncle Saul, for a long time, although I haven't seen them since we moved from Santa Fe back in 91.
I doubt if Rio carries any rough gem material any more, they pretty much quit after they lost several million dollars in diamonds and other gems to some thieves in the mid 80s, after that they built their new secured gem and metals department on the third floor of their new building and placed their tool sales about three blocks away.
Their current Gems and findings catalog doesn't list any rough material other than Gilson Lab created Opal and some Paua shell.
The reason for wanting the information is simple, They sell to Jewelers world wide, Students of the arts and Retailers.
They really don't want some guy trying to buy a trinket for his lady at wholesale which will hurt one of it's serious customers, it's like some one comes to you and says I'd like a price on 20 pens, you give them a decent wholesale price, then they try their best to get you to sell them ONE PEN at that price.
better yet go direct to Colbaugh turquoise co. http://www.colbaugh.net/ Last I heard the could supply you with sizes up to several hundred pounds.