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Turning Stone

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Talc is well known for the possibilty of naturally occuring asbestos. There was a flap a good while back about talcum powder with asbestos in it, the manufacturers never thought to check. Powder from any stone product is problematic, silicosis is a known problem from quartz rocks. Mother nature can hand you some bad ass problems.
 
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Some people don't even consider the organic materials that get turned on a lathe
you never know what kind of fungus, mold or bacteria has colonized a log. The lungs
provide a nice moist habitat for those types of critters when you breath them in. On several
occasions over the years I had to get a prescription to take care of several lung infections
caused by these types of bugs. No fun!
 
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I remember seeing loads of alabaster eggs in the flea markets in Europe many years ago, maybe they are still common. That was before I was a turner. I'd like to try my hand at an alabaster egg now. In preparation for that, can it be cut with a bandsaw?
 
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I remember seeing loads of alabaster eggs in the flea markets in Europe many years ago, maybe they are still common. That was before I was a turner. I'd like to try my hand at an alabaster egg now. In preparation for that, can it be cut with a bandsaw?
Like Tim said, alabaster can be cut on a bandsaw. If you don't mind ruining a blade for wood, you don't need a carbide tipped one.
But I generally will just sand a flat on the piece, epoxy the alabaster blank to a waste block, put it on my lathe, then rough turn to balance it before shaping it.
 
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You could always use a Sawzall for cutting the alabaster and not ruin a good bandsaw blade. A cut off saw would be a good option as they make various cutting wheels for various materials that get replaced as they wear down.
 

Bill Boehme

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Like Tim said, alabaster can be cut on a bandsaw. If you don't mind ruining a blade for wood, you don't need a carbide tipped one.
But I generally will just sand a flat on the piece, epoxy the alabaster blank to a waste block, put it on my lathe, then rough turn to balance it before shaping it.

I remember many years ago on the old Wood Magazine forum that one of the members remembered seeing frozen chickens being cut in half on a bandsaw at his local butcher shop. Not considering the differences between their bandsaw and his nor the clean up required, he decided to cut a frozen turkey in half on his bandsaw without taking into account the difference between wood sawdust and turkey sawdust. As I recall, he didn't clean things up right away which would have been bad enough, but waited until a couple days later and was looking for suggestions on cleaning up the mess.

I can visualize it, "Hey, Bubba hold my beer ...". Too bad there wasn't YouTube back then.

Back to alabaster, I have an alabaster bowl that was turned by another member of my club. It is incredibly beautiful, but after listening to his description of everything involved, I decided that I would be content admiring the work of others. My wife thanked me for making the right decision. :D
 
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Back to alabaster, I have an alabaster bowl that was turned by another member of my club. It is incredibly beautiful, but after listening to his description of everything involved, I decided that I would be content admiring the work of others. My wife thanked me for making the right decision. :D

Okay, what am I missing here? What is so bad about working with alabaster? Is it the dust? And if it is, that shouldn't bother a guy that does his turning outside on the driveway.
 

Bill Boehme

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Okay, what am I missing here? What is so bad about working with alabaster? Is it the dust? And if it is, that shouldn't bother a guy that does his turning outside on the driveway.

I think that John Lucas gave one of the best reasons when he quoted Rude Osolnik.

Mike Someone asked Rude Osolnik what you used to turn alabaster. He said, "someone elses lathe".

I don't remember all of the stuff involved, but I believed that the person who made the bowl I bought may have used a vacuum chamber to resin stabilize the alabaster.
 
Joined
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Bozeman, MT
Alabaster is basically sheetrock that has had water passed through it and in some magical process it turns into alabaster. Quartz inclusions are a significant problem, making carbide tools a serious consideration, as it's sort of like an M2 tool hitting a nail in a chunk of wood.

Colorado Alabaster Supply primarily serves sculptors and they cut blocks on a large, very dusty band saw with a water trough and slow speed. They have a link on their site to Max Krimmel (maxkrimmel.com) who provides information on turning alabaster on his web site and has authored at least one article in a wood turning magazine (maybe American Woodturner).

Our late very best local turner Gordon McMullen used to turn alabaster and the pieces are gorgeous. The edges/rims are fragile and he would trim them in blackwood, which sets off the white-pink alabaster dramatically. Gluing the alabaster to a wood block for mounting is another of the challenges, as is finding a flat surface that produces the maximum size of finished product.
 
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Some of the turned stone pieces in the Egyptian museums are amazing works of art and defy modern machining methods, many of these pieces are made of fragile stone and crystal which is impossible to turn with the methods we employ today. And they did all of it with copper and bronze tools. :)
 
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