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Post by radio on May 19, 2016 19:02:35 GMT -5
at one point or other, I have tried about every epoxy available off the shelf for various things, but have yet to find one I would consider suitable for doing turquoise chip inlay in jewelry. I rarely do inlay repairs, but have had a couple repair requests lately that have me wondering if casting resin would be more suitable for such use. I know from past experience that epoxies used for chip inlay will look nasty in a hurry if the buffing wheel touches it. Early in my career, I had to take a couple pieces to a wetted 1,200, then 3,000 wheel to restore the surface the buffing wheel screwed up due to friction and heat.
Would Opticon cure hard enough to withstand light buffing ? Never used it before, so any input is appreciated
On a whim today, I mixed up some Devcon plastic steel and stirred in some Turquoise chips hoping for a spiderweb effect after grinding the chips flush with the silver. It is curing tonight, so will evaluate the experiment tomorrow.
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Post by orrum on May 19, 2016 19:11:49 GMT -5
Wow waiting on both replies and results of the Epoxy turquoise spiderweb thing!
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Post by radio on May 19, 2016 19:31:12 GMT -5
Wow waiting on both replies and results of the Epoxy turquoise spiderweb thing! I had a channel already fabricated, so filled one end with steel and chips as an experiment. It will be interesting to grind and polish the chips in the channel and see how the black steel looks as an adhesive for the chips. Never seen any done that way, but I'm less than impressed with clear epoxy for the task. I can't tell you how many repair jobs I've turned down on chip inlay jewelry as they are inexpensive to start with, and folks just don't want to spend as much or more than they paid for the ring on a repair.
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Post by orrum on May 19, 2016 19:47:04 GMT -5
You can polish super glue cause I have put it in pits on cabs and ground and polished it.
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Post by radio on May 19, 2016 20:29:45 GMT -5
You can polish super glue cause I have put it in pits on cabs and ground and polished it. Some folks use CA to do chip inlay, but I have doubts about its long term durability when used in mens rings that get exposed to abuse of all kinds
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Post by orrum on May 19, 2016 21:04:23 GMT -5
I agree Radio!
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Post by orrum on May 20, 2016 10:45:42 GMT -5
.....anxiously waiting....
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Post by radio on May 20, 2016 11:51:30 GMT -5
.....anxiously waiting.... Cant post pics from my phone, but will load a couple tonight. The steel worked well, but the chips were a bit large and not tightly packed enough to suit me. The regular two part epoxy disappointed one again as expected, but the surprise was the Starbond CA I tried this morning. Definitely a clearer glue than epoxy and dried incredibly hard. I have a ring in for repair that needs fresh Turquoise in the channels, so kind of leaning toward the Starbond for the repair
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Post by orrum on May 20, 2016 14:40:51 GMT -5
So did the black steel polish?
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Post by radio on May 20, 2016 17:23:06 GMT -5
The results are in. The steel looks ok, but will not work well on a buffing wheel with Zam, at least not on a 12 hour cure. It did ok with 13,000 diamond on canvas though. The two part epoxy looks yellow compared to the Starbond CA I experimented with. I liked the Starbond well enough that I did the inlay repair with it and will smooth things up tomorrow morning Devcon liquid steel Starbond CA on left/two part epoxy on right Ring with chips and Starbond
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Post by orrum on May 20, 2016 18:02:41 GMT -5
Great info Radio!
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Post by radio on May 20, 2016 19:30:11 GMT -5
Thanks. So what do you think of the looks of the Devcon liquid steel inlay? Would you opt for that look, or the CA?
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Post by orrum on May 20, 2016 20:49:17 GMT -5
Right now the black steel looks better but I wonder about using both? Black with Chips pressed in and then covered with CA and then cabbed?
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panamark
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2012
Posts: 1,343
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Post by panamark on May 20, 2016 21:50:29 GMT -5
Thanks. So what do you think of the looks of the Devcon liquid steel inlay? Would you opt for that look, or the CA? I like #1) the Starbond but I am thinking the liquid steel might be even better if the chips were packed tighter so there was only a thin black border on each piece. Both are real nice looking!
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Post by radio on May 21, 2016 7:28:40 GMT -5
Thanks. So what do you think of the looks of the Devcon liquid steel inlay? Would you opt for that look, or the CA? I like #1) the Starbond but I am thinking the liquid steel might be even better if the chips were packed tighter so there was only a thin black border on each piece. Both are real nice looking! I didn't crush the turquoise quite small enough, so the chips didn't pack as tightly as they should be for optimum results. today I will dig out the chips and see how the 3 adhesives stack up for resisting my efforts. I know the steel is going to to be a bear to get out of the channel!
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Post by rockjunquie on May 21, 2016 7:42:52 GMT -5
I like the black steel look.
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wampidytoo
has rocks in the head
Add 5016 to my post count.
Member since June 2013
Posts: 709
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Post by wampidytoo on May 21, 2016 10:23:50 GMT -5
I have never been a fan of turquoise but I do like the inlay of chips with both glues.
And thanks for the idea. I have a small piece of turquoise that I bought just to help out a failing rock shop that I have not had a use for until now. Crush it and add an inlay to my new stick. I may do the same with some other stones to fill major cracks in the wood. Jim
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wampidytoo
has rocks in the head
Add 5016 to my post count.
Member since June 2013
Posts: 709
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Post by wampidytoo on May 21, 2016 10:41:13 GMT -5
When you work with the chips and CA how do you add them? Install chips then add the CA, other way around or mix and install? I noticed a slow CA at Ace hardware yesterday that gives a little extra time to set things before it locks up. Curiosity spiking here. Jim
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Post by orrum on May 21, 2016 12:18:41 GMT -5
X2 Jim. While in Az I saw several Ironwood or Mesquite stump that had Turquoise in them. They were desert dried and cracked. The guy grinds up cheap chalk turquoise and mixes in 2 part epoxy and pours it into the cracks here and there. Then he sands everything down and polyurethanes it. The stumps are made into bases for lamps, hat or coatracks. They r awesome looking!
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Post by radio on May 21, 2016 18:36:49 GMT -5
When you work with the chips and CA how do you add them? Install chips then add the CA, other way around or mix and install? I noticed a slow CA at Ace hardware yesterday that gives a little extra time to set things before it locks up. Curiosity spiking here. Jim If you look closely at the ring pic, you can see scotch tape forming a dam at each end of the channels. I poured in the chips, then scooted them around a bit with a solder pick to settle them and get then to the end of the channels, then added the CA. The steel and regular epoxy were mixed, then the turquoise added and stirred for even coverage before packing the ring channels with glue/turquoise mix. I tried removing the 3 types of glue and turquoise and as expected, the 2 part clear epoxy was fairly easy to dig out of the channels. The CA and steel sections will have to be ground out as they both set much harder than the two part clear epoxy It's been an interesting experiment, but I still want to try Opticon and possibly casting resin for inlay work
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