Shaping Abalone Shell

[Robson Valley]

This works fine for scallop/clam/mussel/conch, what have you. Fun to do, but it took far longer to get set up than to do the work.

I need some 1"/25mm circles of reasonably flat abalone shell.

This is 35 year old BC abalone shell from Bella Coola. Pale pink with some turquoise highlights, it does not have the color play such as you see in the paua/abalone shell from New Zealand.
Pic #1 My setup, the dust collector is a 2 liter/ 1/2gal plastic milk jug with the bottom cut out. Cut a few splines in the next so it fits over the end of my ShopVac hose. I run "fine" bags in the Vac, mostly as I use it for final dusting when I shut down and clean out the wood pellet stove, maybe every 500-600 lbs.
The bigger stone is for rough cutting panels of shell, the fat stone is for shaping = I can go longer before I clean the stone with the rubber stick (exactly the same deal as any drum sander.) Shaft speed in the drill press is 1,100rpm. Gets hot and can cook the dust into the stone at any higher speed.
The rough panels are cut. Use a Staedler drafting template to draw 25mm circles.
Cut the bulk corners off and change stones.
Middle pix = before and after cleaning with the rubber stick.
Last pic: the finished circles. They are lying on a piece of the non-skid matting that I like to use under my carvings so they don't walk around on the bench.

[mobjack68]

Please wear a mask??? I learned the hard way. Last time I cut shell, I wheezed for 2 weeks.....(maskless of course..)

I like messing with that stuff, wish it was thicker.....
Thanks for sharing your setup....always neat to see how other folks do things....

[Robson Valley]

There is not a dang thing which can out-fly my ShopVac. I hunt angry wasps in the summer with it. I use the same earmuffs that I use in trap-shooting. Not a speck of dust escapes my pick-up. And for that, I really enjoy what I'm doing.
From the photo, the stone is spinning from right to left on the front face. That throws the shell dust straight into the pick-up. Same with the rubber.

I have not found the shell thickness to be too much of an issue. I tried grinding off a few bumps to make the panels flatter. By holding them to the light, I could see where I had thinned them out almost too much.

I go really easy when I'm shaping the circles/ovals/whatever. Don't ram it into the stone. Little bit, little bit and I get the shapes I need.