[Jewelry making - Article 00653] - Re: [Orchid] Mother of Pearl cutting

[Ken Ferrell]

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    Charles, I've cut upward of 1000 pounds of Malachite, maybe a tad
    more and both my wife and I earned a part of our earnings when we
    first started doing Indian Styled Jewelry in the early 1970s cutting
    Turq. Backing included. And just about any thing else we could run
    through a saw for .05 per CT. and at night we drilled nuggets for a
    penny a hole. I do realize that the water is for cooling the stone,
    but by flooding she shell or stone either for that matter epically
    with Abalone, Mother Of Pearl, and most Mollusk shells, helps keep
    the fibrous Calcified materials out of the air stream, Hint cut
    Malachite with a fan blowing across you (from the side) Got
    hospitalized for 3 days and this was from just slabbing a large gunny
    sack or Potato sacks full in a 24x12 building using 2 - 24 inch and 3
    - 14 inch slab saws COOLED WITH OIL, THE FUMES WERE STILL TOXIC ,only
    once for that mistake, Funny thing was Doctor said had very clean
    lungs too (when they did my heart surgery) But Shell material besides
    it's foul smell which is a fun as burning teeth out of gold (nearly
    the same material) is a different mater, it can and will lead to
    Silicosis of the lung I think it's what coal miners call Black Lung
    Disease, Check out the life expectancy of the guys in Mexico that cut
    all the Abalone Shell for the cheap Alpaca / White Brass, I've been
    to some of their Tallarer (sp)or shops  and seen guys in their early
    30s dying from it from dry cutting shell, I live less than two miles
    from the Tennessee River, we have some of the most sought after shell
    there is, a large Fresh water Mollusk the produces pearls, and has a
    shell that is used in the over seas production of nuclei for many of
    the worlds Cultured Pearls, I find it in Pink colors all the time
    since it is of no value to the divers.  I've cut quite a few pounds,
    I also know several people here that have only ground down a bit here
    and there on a belt sander or bench grinder that are paying a
    terrible price. Silicosis is a very painful way to end a life 

    I don't know if it can happen when grinding one piece or if you can
    cut ton's but my suspicion is that cut dry it doesn't take many
    pieces of that dust going past your nasal cavity and into the lung to
    culture and grow the fungi that cause it. Since I seem to remember
    you saying that you teach Lapidary, you may want to advise your
    students that some of the pretty things that are easy to cut,  the
    stones with Lead, Copper and Aluminum Phosphates and Sulphates in
    truth can kill them if not done with a slight degree of care, and be
    extra careful when cutting ANY shell material. Better to stick with
    Agates, and Jaspers, Quartz, Corundum's (just don't get any under
    your finger nails) and other hard rocks, gems also I don't think that
    eating calcium, Coral or othewrwise is quite the same as breathing
    the coarse Ground Fibrous material directly into your lungs. That's
    like Well I wipe my skin with Isopropyl Alcohol, so why not drink
    it.. 

Ken Ferrell
In west Tennessee where fall finally is on the way, 
www.shadras.com



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