Help! Anybody ever turned Pietersite?

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It's a gorgeous stone, but I certainly wouldn't want to try to turn it. It has a chatoyancy like tiger eye, but is harder since it is a form of chalcedony. You might be able to embed some chips of it. Of course, if you have the tools and means to drill and cut stone, go for it. I would absolutely love to see a pen made of Pietersite!

BTW, I'm really not being facetious. I would love to see this done. I might have to find some chips now that you brought it up.

There was a member that made some pens from solid stone, jasper and a couple others. They were impressive.
 
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Thanks for the feedback Todd - I don't have any idea what tools would be needed to turn something like this. If you cast chips in resin wouldn't they just chip out when the tool hit them?
 
It certainly is possible to make pens out of stone….just not by "turning" - possible exceptions being soft material e.g. alabaster.

When I decided I wanted to make pens out of gemstones like petrified wood, coprolite, granite, jasper, agate, and so forth, I ended up designing and building my own lapidary lathe, fabricated custom diamond drill bits, built a water cooling system for drilling, made a custom fixture for squaring blanks, bought a tile saw for making blanks and sourced specialty items for polishing. (I also made my own CNC slab saw…..but that's another story)

Everything with stone is diamond grinding….there is no "cutting". Because stone is so brittle, chip out and cracking are constant issues. Diamond drill bits only come in even mm sizes so techniques to center brass tubes need to be developed. And of course you can't just "press" a kit together because of the brittleness it needs to be sized for a slip fit and then glued.

Here's a couple links - Today's Stone Pens and Who Say You Can't Polish a Turd.




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Mach4 said:
It certainly is possible to make pens out of stone….just not by "turning" - possible exceptions being soft material e.g. alabaster.

When I decided I wanted to make pens out of gemstones like petrified wood, coprolite, granite, jasper, agate, and so forth, I ended up designing and building my own lapidary lathe, fabricated custom diamond drill bits, built a water cooling system for drilling, made a custom fixture for squaring blanks, bought a tile saw for making blanks and sourced specialty items for polishing. (I also made my own CNC slab saw…..but that's another story)

Everything with stone is diamond grinding….there is no "cutting". Because stone is so brittle, chip out and cracking are constant issues. Diamond drill bits only come in even mm sizes so techniques to center brass tubes need to be developed. And of course you can't just "press" a kit together because of the brittleness it needs to be sized for a slip fit and then glued.

Here's a couple links - Today's Stone Pens and Who Say You Can't Polish a Turd.




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That can't have been easy work, but I'll bet it was very satisfying.

If anyone does decide to turn gemstones, check the content. Many of the chatoyant stones have silica and you do not want to breathe in that dust. I'd imagine you would be working under some type of running water, but just wanted to throw that tidbit out there.
 
sorcerertd said:
If anyone does decide to turn gemstones, check the content. Many of the chatoyant stones have silica and you do not want to breathe in that dust. I'd imagine you would be working under some type of running water, but just wanted to throw that tidbit out there.
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Definitely good advice! Everything in the process involves water (or biodiesel in the case of slabbing) so that's not an issue. That said, I'll often dry grind the blanks to length after gluing in which case an N95 mask does the job nicely. Silicosis is not something to be trifled with. Some stones contain arsenic, so it pays to know what you're working with too.
 
Mach4 said:
It certainly is possible to make pens out of stone….just not by "turning" - possible exceptions being soft material e.g. alabaster.

When I decided I wanted to make pens out of gemstones like petrified wood, coprolite, granite, jasper, agate, and so forth, I ended up designing and building my own lapidary lathe, fabricated custom diamond drill bits, built a water cooling system for drilling, made a custom fixture for squaring blanks, bought a tile saw for making blanks and sourced specialty items for polishing. (I also made my own CNC slab saw…..but that's another story)

Everything with stone is diamond grinding….there is no "cutting". Because stone is so brittle, chip out and cracking are constant issues. Diamond drill bits only come in even mm sizes so techniques to center brass tubes need to be developed. And of course you can't just "press" a kit together because of the brittleness it needs to be sized for a slip fit and then glued.

Here's a couple links - Today's Stone Pens and Who Say You Can't Polish a Turd.




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That is a seriously ambitious undertaking! I've thought a little about trying this, but it will definitely need to wait a bit. I do want to try incorporating crystal material (amethyst, quartz and the like) into some pens. I'm looking for someone that can make replacement center bands, finials and other parts from crystal or stone material rather than the whole body as you did here. I love the look of this though, and I'd imagine the weight makes this feel pretty substantial as well.

Jeff
 
Mach4 said:
It certainly is possible to make pens out of stone….just not by "turning" - possible exceptions being soft material e.g. alabaster.

When I decided I wanted to make pens out of gemstones like petrified wood, coprolite, granite, jasper, agate, and so forth, I ended up designing and building my own lapidary lathe, fabricated custom diamond drill bits, built a water cooling system for drilling, made a custom fixture for squaring blanks, bought a tile saw for making blanks and sourced specialty items for polishing. (I also made my own CNC slab saw…..but that's another story)

Everything with stone is diamond grinding….there is no "cutting". Because stone is so brittle, chip out and cracking are constant issues. Diamond drill bits only come in even mm sizes so techniques to center brass tubes need to be developed. And of course you can't just "press" a kit together because of the brittleness it needs to be sized for a slip fit and then glued.

Here's a couple links - Today's Stone Pens and Who Say You Can't Polish a Turd.




View attachment 334218
Click to expand...
Very nice pen! If you want I will refer the customer to you - I know I won't go through the start up to dovstone!
 
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