Sawing again
Well, let’s see here, I’m only a week behind in writing this post. It’s been a tough week, though, so I’m going to cut my self some slack. I didn’t accomplish as much as I wanted to last weekend.
I started sawing, and because these pieces have to have other pieces cut out from the inside, I needed to drill a hole through the waste section to thread my saw blade through. I figured I was all set because I’d purchased these wee finger drills from MicroMark just for the purpose. I’ve gotten a lot of tools from them.
So I started drilling, and soon realized that it would be a month of Sundays before I got through the shell with the finger drill. Time for plan B.
I suppose I should’ve had an inkling that it wasn’t going to be a banner day for sawing if I was moving on to plan B within 10 minutes of starting.
But move on I did. I got my cordless drill out, and then grabbed the box o’ bits, only to find that the 2 holes for a 1/16” bit were empty. I went in to ask Scott if he knew where they were in use, and he didn’t, but he had another box of bits in his studio. There was one in there. I started drilling, and it was slick. Went right through.
I put holes in pieces until the battery ran down. I think my battery packs for that drill are shot, and have been for a long time. Keeping them out in the garage probably doesn’t help, but they don’t hold a charge for long. I suspect I could buy a new corded drill for what it would cost me to buy 2 replacement battery packs, and have all my drilling needs for life covered. Ah, but here I see that MicroMark has small drill bits with 1/8” shanks that will fit right into my spare Dremel. Methinks that will be the way to go for the time being.
So here we have a piece drilled and ready to saw. I want to saw the white parts out. The inner and the outer bits around it will be MOP. 
The trick here is to put the blade through the hole, and cut it out from there. Simple enough in concept.
But I ended up tossing the first 2 pieces I cut. You can see that they are not real even and smooth on the inside. But practice is practice.
I kept it up, and I was using these fine saw blades that I bought awhile back, only to find I didn’t care for them. They were TOO fine, and they broke if you looked at them funny. But they were the package I had open, so I thought I’d try to use them up. And use them up I did, as I went through 9 or 10 of them in the hour I was sawing, only to have 3 pieces completed. At that point, it was a million degrees in the garage, I was discouraged, and my neck hurt, so I went in, to return another day. But I won’t have to deal with those crappy blades anymore; they’re all gone.
In other news, and in anticipation of my next project, I ordered some materials from a new supplier, Rescue Pearl. I got some pink mussel and reconstituted stone: banded Malachite (green), Rhodonite (pink), and Blue River Agate (blue). I also got some paua curved strips for plant stems (not pictured). It’s a little cooler today, so perhaps I will make greater headway in the sawing department.
