pearl rosetting

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Darry,
I've only done one, but I got my "ring" of abalone from Andy De'Paule. It was great. The piece were perfectly fit together with curvey joints that blended in really well. It was 1/4" wide. I didn't have spacer material that wide, but I had the .060" wide teflon spacer material, so what I did was:

Cut the channel wide enough for the abalone to be ringed inside and out with .063" BWB purfling. I spot glued the abalone in with CA (on the bottom only) inserting the teflon around it inside and out. When all the abalone was in, I pulled out the teflon and glued in the purfling with LMI white glue and got a perfect fit. Then I came back and flooded the abalone with CA which should have glued it in very securely. I did not let the CA touch the spruce outside of the rosette so I did not chance having any staining of the spruce from it.
This worked well for me. I believe the teflon spacer material comes in a couple of widiths, but how you install will have alot to do with what you have to work with, I think.

Hope this answers another of your questions.

Kevin

[tippie53]

Abalam works very well , and it will break nicely and hides the joints very well . One key to help is to use a sharp cornered object. There is also how you hold it as you break . David Nichols taught me how to do this .He has been inlaying for over 50 years . Check out custom pearl inlay .
The slight irregularities help hide the joints. Any real pearl will have surface irregularities so don't worry about them . These you can fill once there is some sealer and finish applied. When you look at the pearl available for this you have solid shell Abalam and zip flex . The abalam is a green product and I haven't used that zip flex.
As for inlaying pearl , I will use the teflon for most rosettes . If you are using purfling you will almost have to have a filler . Getting pearl to work purfling just won't work so you need to inlay the teflon with the purfling. If I am dropping pearl alone in wood you can cut the opening and then work the pearl in the channel.

[Darryl Young]

Very helpful John, thank you.

[Darryl Young]

John,

The teflon strips from Martin are for 0.068" wide pearl that they supply. Can this teflon strip be used ok with the 1/16" Ablam strip?

Edit: Found that the Ablam strips are 0.063" wide. Will the 0.005" difference be ok?

[tippie53]

you need a touch for glue. If you get things too tight it can be a bear

[Darryl Young]

Thanks John!