ALABASTER

[WALT58]

Any hints on drilling and turning alabaster I have a Taig with both metal and wood capabilities Easy Wood skews

 

[Finatic]

I have turned Alabaster and will not soon try it again. The pens came out great but the mess the dust creates is not on my favorites list.
I turned it at a medium speed, good vacuum and a fan to blow clean air into my breathing area while wearing a mask rated for fine particulates.
The shop was white when I got through.
I believe the dust from the Alabaster contains silica and therefor makes it far more dangerous than originally thought.
If I did it again, I would set up two fans, one on either side of me, to blow all of the dust away from my breathing area, and try to trap it in a box with a filtered vacuum set up.
You may find the effort worth it. I have a friend who turns goblets and uses water to keep dust in control. My nephew has several Alabaster mines and he has no trouble cutting it (Outdoors). Use sharp tools and expect cracks and an occasional explosion. Face shield a must.
Good Luck and post photos.

 

[PaulDoug]

I have a chunk of it but have not tried turning any. It is like soapstone, only a little harder. Follow the suggestions Finatic gave.

 

[mhbeauford]

Doesn't contain silica except perhaps as an impurity, See this link

Alabaster - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Jim Burr]

Did a soapstone cartridge pen last year...beautiful!!! But since it has no tolerance for expansion, there were little fractures after the parts were pressed. Turned a new barrel and honed the inside of the tube, epoxied the parts and that solved the problem.

 

[Brooks803]

I haven't turned a full pen out of Alabaster, but I was able to turn these very small and delicate pieces from it. I used standard wood tools to do it. A light touch is a must bc this stuff doesn't flex at all! Finatic gives great advice about the dust. You really need to overdo it as far as the dust goes. It's nasty stuff and you don't want to breathe any of it in.

For drilling I would think doing it in water or using water to keep it cool is a must. Step drilling wouldn't be a bad idea either.

 

[pshib]

Use gorilla glue

And use a kit that leaves a lot of material. Alabaster will not hold up to kit less. I had to repair mine before I had a chance to pull it off the lathe. My soapstone came out good.