Cutting Mother of pearl Buttons

I used a shop drill press and some hole-saws to cut Mother of Pearl buttons from a shell, essentially the same way they did it a hundred years ago, but without the dedicated drilling apparatus they had then. dnr.wi.gov/topic/fishing/regul... www.mpm.edu/collections/resear...

[@Nicky-T]

I am just learning about this and I came across another source that warned that the dust from pearl shells/mother of pearl is hazardous. They recommend doing all drilling under water, and/or wearing a HEPA filter mask. I personally think that may be a bit much, but a word to the wise.

[@TannerTasi]

thank you for this educational video, I have been searching on how to drill holes into my spondylus shells. If you have any tips please send me a message. thanks again.

[@xavierbbitsui6494]

Thank you!~

[@bobs5596]

digging in my garden today i turned up a piece of shell that has evidently been drilled. there are 2 holes but the shell is broken so that only half of the holes remain. i wish i knew what i have found. i am on an indian site and wondering how they made beads, although they sure didn't have hole saws, so this must be historic period button making. my house is 100years old and i live in maryland where there are a lot of chesapeake bay oysters.

[@GregoryLog]

Drilled holes in old shells is not an uncommon artifact where mussels were harvested for button making. I come across 100 plus year old broken fragments of shells every so that were clearly drilled for buttons here along the Saint Croix River about 20 miles East of Minneapolis. Most of the drilled blanks went to Muscatine Iowa to be finished into decorative buttons. I think people at the time picked over the discard piles of drilled mussel shells as curiosity pieces so the drilled shells got dragged near and far. The mother of pearl button industry completely overran the ability of the mussels to repopulate and then along came the invention of plastic buttons that were much cheaper to produce so that industry largely died back a 100 years ago

[@laura22121990]

Great video!

[@GregoryLog]

Thank you Laura

[@amitjaiswal1218]

Thanks for the video, can you provide me abalone shell for collecting mother of pearls powder? At what price????

[@horncraftindiawoodenhandic6055]

Sir this is older tools New tools is India 👍👍👍

[@rehbarenterprises2218]

Sir we are from India and we are manufacturer of shell buttons You have required shell buttons

[@occipitalneuralgia2339]

Can you give a link to your small hole saw set? I want to try this even tough I do not have a drill Press.

[@GregoryLog]

www.ebay.com/itm/302826795664?epid=19034189305&hash=item4681e23290:g:8bQAAOSwT1tghiqb

[@GregoryLog]

There already is a fresh water mussel that looks and is textured and the size of a pistol grip. The common name is Pistolgrip and the scientific name is Tritogonia verucosa. I've only have seen a couple dead ones on the shore of the Saint Croix River. The couple I saw looked as if they were probably dead for decades by the amount of weathering on the shells. The status of this animal as of 2003 for the state of Minnesota is threatened. if it has not been extirpated from the state by now.

[@jwatley313]

Do you sale your buttons

[@GregoryLog]

I do not know the legality of selling the buttons. It is probably not legal. As far as I know the shells can only be collected for craft projects and the like. There is likely no wholesaling or retailing the shells, you can just collect a few and do whatever for personal use, as far as I have been led to believe anyhow.

[@rehbarenterprises2218]

Can you have need shell buttons

[@nahusenaygetachew3033]

how can i goat the machine

[@SeaBear77]

I've seen someone use a power hand-drill to make a shell button before. They used the same type of drill bit as this guy does, just attached to a hand-drill. They don't turn out quite as pristine as the button on the video, but they looked nice enough to me. The tricky part is keeping it still enough, but I'm sure it gets a little easier after a bit of practice.