Turquoise Inlay

[Robert Edington]

I have been wanting to try filling voids in bowls with Turquoise, but I am unsure how to do it. Do you epoxy it in and then turn it round, or do you sand it flush. If I turn it, won't it tear up your tools? I use a Glaser bowl gouge. I don't want to destroy it. Do you use a junk gouge just for it? Can I get some ideas. I have the Turquoise. I just need the technique.
Thanks
RP

[Steve Mawson]

Robert,
I have not had a tool that Turqquoise will not dull immediately. So I put the Turquoise in the void then soak with CA glue and sand off starting with fairly coarse sand paper, it will take a while so be patient. Not the only way but the way I have done it in the past.

[Thom Sturgill]

If you have one of those T-shaped diamond tools for truing a grinder, that may work also. I had the same problem with some lapis lazuli...

[Michelle Rich]

it won't ruin your gouge..dull it, yes, but ruin it? no.

[Dale Gillaspy]

I iuse a lot of turquoise, and the method I use is to put it in the void, then soak with CA, using a finer and finer grind as I go to fill voids. At the end, I will use a contrasting color of epoxy for any final voids. I use my bowl gouge and yes, it will dull your tool quickly, but nothing a trip back to the grinder won't fix. I don't start out trying to sand it flush. That may work for some, but for me, that is a lot of sandpaper, and a lot of heat generated that I don't want to do. I will also sometimes use my Easy Wood carbide tool to get it flush. Carbide handles it well.

[David A. Peterson]

there are several videos on YouTube that demonstrate the technique. I finish all of my gouge and chisel work before I glue down the turquoise. CA seems to work very well (let set overnight). Then you can sand it level. Yes, it does take a lot of sandpaper. If you find that you have a shallow area when you get done sanding, repeat the process and add a little more turquoise and CA, (again...overnight), then repeat. I sand up to 2000 grit, and the effort is worthwhile. Here is a little toothpick holder made from walnut. Use the THIN CA glue. If you have the HOT STUFF brand of CA, it is the red bottle. Don't use the accelerator and just be patient with it. I leave the piece on the lathe and just do a little at a time with the void pointing upward. If you are trying to do a rim, finish all your sanding, then use a rotary sander while the piece is on the bench. If you have to fill a void because the granules were not small enough, you need to add powder turquoise (finer grit) into the void to fill out those spots. The turquoise bowl had to be done on a bench after all sanding on the lathe was completed.

282224 282225

[Robert Edington]

Okay, Thanks for your responses
RP

[Dave Paine]

My local woodturning club January meeting had a demonstration by a person who carves and glues stones into the work. He frequently uses turquoise. He mentioned the range of hardness which he found to work, something about 3.5 - 4.5, I forget the scale.

I was expecting the stone would be easily turned with sharp tools or carbide. The one consideration I did not appreciate was that if the wood is too soft, or like curly maple some areas softer than others, then when the work is being sanded, the wood can be sanded more than the stone.

The demonstrator had a large diameter gorgeous platter of curly maple with a complicated celtic knot pattern he carved and filled with turquoise. When it got to the sanding part he remembered about the difference in hardness of the curly maple. He ended up with wavy curly maple and a piece with over 130 hours invested which he said he could not sell.

[John King]

Sanding must be done with caution. The turquoise is much harder than wood. If you are not careful, the softer wood will be remove more rapidly than the harder turquoise. Result is that the turquoise remains proud above the wood. Use tools to get the turquoise turned down to near even with surrounding wood. And then finish with sandpaper. - John

[Wally Dickerman]

A lot of us Arizona turners use turquoise. I've used it quite a bit. Reading the posts, my method seems to be a bit different. I mix the ground turquoise with epoxy. I apply the mix to the voide using an artist's spatula. The next day I carefully grind down the excess turquoise using a drill and 80 grit. The final grinding is done with a much finer grit. Works very well for me.

A tip....Go to a craft store and get some blue glitter. Adds some sparkle to the turquoise.

[Brian Kent]

And your current source for turquoise is…?

[Pat Scott]

I just finished my first piece using turquoise, and I used the same method that Wally does. One thing I was taught by Larry Fox (Foxy Woodz) during a demo he did for our club is to use a Diamond sanding disc. Diamond doesn't care if it's sanding wood or turquoise, it treats them the same - meaning that it will sand both equally and not leave a wavy surface. A 2" Diamond disc is $20, but it lasts fairly long. Another alternative if you don't want to spend the money for Diamond is stock up on lots of cheap 80 grit sandpaper because the turquoise will dull Aluminum Oxide very quickly.

[Steve Peterson]

My local woodturning club January meeting had a demonstration by a person who carves and glues stones into the work. He frequently uses turquoise. He mentioned the range of hardness which he found to work, something about 3.5 - 4.5, I forget the scale.

Another thing to consider is that most turquoise is stabilized before it is made into jewelry. This makes it considerably harder. If you can find a source of unstabilized turquoise, then it will work much better as an inlay.

Steve

[Ray Bell]

Robert all good responses. I usually inlay using a carving vise I made as it is much easier to orient the bowl with this. One thing I don't think was mentioned is to spray void and surrounding areas with shellac before using ca, as it will stain and is difficult to sand away. I usually sand turquoise down almost even with wood while stationary on vise, then move to lathe to finish it up. I hadn't heard of the diamond sandpaper, but sounds like a good investment. By the way the bowl on the carving vice is 1-1/8x1/4 the same as my lathe spindle.282239

[Bill Wyko]

Gem & mineral show comes to Tucson every year so we can buy it by the buckets full. 8-)

[robert baccus]

Wally knows his rocks. Real turquois is quite soft and cuts with a sharp detail gouge and power sands flat--only if you use epoxy which is 4 times easier to cut than CA. It doesn't tend to stand up proud like CA. I work the stuff down with cheap HF air grinders and 180--300 grit discs. Epoxy also does not stain light colored wood like CA is famous for. For a contrast try black dyed epoxy/turquois paste for repairs. When sanded down it's different. A fine cut file works well on curved surfaces.

[louis pittman]

Does your epoxy stain your wood like c a

[Robert Edington]

Thank you for all of your responses.

RP

[sam upton]

If I am using ca I will first coat the area with sanding sealer to prvent the ca from staining the wood.

[Mark W Pugh]

And your current source for turquoise is…?


To rebirth the thread. Just getting in to inlaying, I think. Best place to buy turquoise these days? I don't mind pounding it myself, unless there is a cheap crushed alternative. Not a turner, just wanting to use it on other things.

Thanks

[Steve Nix]

I get my turquoise on eBay, mostly coming from China, not that expensive with free shipping. But you have to crush it.

[Mark W Pugh]

I get my turquoise on eBay, mostly coming from China, not that expensive with free shipping. But you have to crush it.

Since I'm not a turquoise expert, is there any difference between turquoise from China and turquoise from other countries. I'm assuming the stuff I'm seeing on ebay is genuine? China prices look too good to be true.

[Brice Rogers]

To rebirth the thread. Just getting in to inlaying, I think. Best place to buy turquoise these days? I don't mind pounding it myself, unless there is a cheap crushed alternative. Not a turner, just wanting to use it on other things.

Thanks

I've looked on eBay and found companies selling various grits or mixtures of powdered turquoise. Search with words like turquoise inlay under the crafts section. You will also find reference to Inlace (a trade name). In fact Rockler and Craft Supplies sells Inlace. Last fall I bought a bunch of turquoise colored rocks at a rock/gem store. They were dyed and are a rock slightly softer than real turquoise. When I smashed some, the result looked pretty good and I thought that the slightly softer stone would sand more easily. But I haven't finished a project yet.

[robert baccus]

I have seen several methods of crushing turquoise which can be complicated or slow. I buy the cheapest blender I can find and throw in a couple of ounces. Shaking the blender helps a lot. You get dust to small rocks but a few sifters sort it out for your various uses.

[robert baccus]

Try a cheap blender and several screen filters to sort out the sizes it produces.

[Marvin Hasenak]

I use the real turquoise, but I found that turquoise Inlace form Craft Supplies works easier than the real stuff. For the real turquoise I got mine from Gilmer Rock Shop, found them on eBay.

[Wes Ramsey]

I use natural turquoise from gem and mineral shows or my own collection and crush it with a hammer. Sometimes it will contain pyrite which adds to the natural look of the inlace, but it sands plum awful and will leave black streaks on the piece. I use a Thompson gouge to turn it down flush and they do fine. My BB gouge dulls almost immediately and just won't cut it. One thing to remember is that leveling crushed stone isn't like cutting solid stone - crushed stone will cut easier than you think with quality steel. You're cutting the adhesive as much as you're cutting stone. As far as CA vs epoxy, I don't think CA cures much or any harder than CA glue. Maybe it does, but certainly not as hard as the crushed stone you're bonding with it.

[Eric Gourieux]

I use an old coffee grinder. Throw in a handfull and grind for a few seconds. I repurpose old rattle can lacquer lids by drilling progressively smaller holes into different lids and use them to sift out various sizes of stone to use for inlay.

[Wally Dickerman]

Craft Supply If you want a large supply, the gem show in Tucson is a good source. It is in February each year.

[Mel Fulks]

Delighted that you are posting again ,take good care of yourself.