Micro Flex Abalone Sheets

[lhowell]

I've seen a few people on here cut Abalone strips and glue them to a blank but I ran across this stuff called Micro Flex Abalone. It comes in sheets and I watched them stick the sheet in a bowl of boiling water for ten or so minutes and wrap it around a fishing rod blank without cracking. I was wondering if the same could be done for a pen blank and then cast in Alumilite or PR? Has anyone ever worked with the stuff? I ordered three sheets in various colors to play around with. Will post pictures.

http://www.mudhole.com/MicroFlex-Abalone-Shell-Inlay-Strips

 

[Rounder]

I have tried them and it is a little difficult to get it to roll around the pen tube without cracking. Though I used a heat gun instead of soaking in water. Hadn't heard of doing that. Ordered from the same place.

 

[Sappheiros]

I ordered a bunch of sheets from a company called Aqua Blue Maui. They produce the Thin Lam themselves in Hawaii. The woman I spoke to said that Mudhole actually purchases their veneer. You can buy it with or without adhesive backing. Their veneers are very gorgeous. I have yet to try inlaying them as I haven't quite gotten the rest of the tools I'll need.

 

[lhowell]

Thanks! I figured at a minimum I would still cut it into strips and apply it that way. I was a bit concerned that the curve of a tube would be too much to try without the sheets cracking.

 

[Kenny Durrant]

I tried some and had trouble with cracking. There is some flex but the sheets are still made of pieces of shell. Maybe I was just trying to use too small of a diameter tube. When the abalone started getting tight it started cracking around the small pieces. I guess I had high hopes and when it failed the second time I gave up. Maybe you'll have more patients and better luck than I did. I hope so because I think it would really make a nice pen.

 

[lhowell]

Yeah it seems to be the consensus that pen tubes are a bit too small for full sheets. I'll probably go ahead and cut these into strips and use the clear finger nail polish trick to adhere them. Maybe one day I'll get adventurous with a $15 piece of abalone sheet and try to wrap it!

I tried some and had trouble with cracking. There is some flex but the sheets are still made of pieces of shell. Maybe I was just trying to use too small of a diameter tube. When the abalone started getting tight it started cracking around the small pieces. I guess I had high hopes and when it failed the second time I gave up. Maybe you'll have more patients and better luck than I did. I hope so because I think it would really make a nice pen.

 

[mike4066]

It can be wrapped (not that I've done it) but look at the pen on the IAP home page.

I read somewhere that hot water with vinegar can break down the calcium in the abalone and make it more flexible.

 

[JohnU]

It can be wrapped (not that I've done it) but look at the pen on the IAP home page.

I read somewhere that hot water with vinegar can break down the calcium in the abalone and make it more flexible.

It does and will bend but I had to soak it a while to get it to bend around Sierra tubes. In my trials the colors faded some and the shells lost their vibrant colorful glow. Just my results. Maybe others have had better results.