Tagua Slices

[Vott1]

I thought I'd share a couple of tagua slice necklaces I've made since its not the normal thing you see in scroll saw work.

In size their between a quarter and a half dollar coin.

 

 

 

[bronx]

Wow nice work my friend. You are a pros pro. Thx for sharing.

[Scrolling Steve]

Wow !....Very nice work , Kip !.......I am intrigued and have a lot of questions??....can i assume this Tagua slice you have turned into a piece of jewelry is a slice of a nut ?....What steps does it take to prepare and preserve said nut ?....Inquiring minds want to know !?! 

[DWSUDEKUM]

Very nicely done Kip.  Very impressive.  Thanks for sharing these with us.

 

DW

[Vott1]

Wow !....Very nice work , Kip !.......I am intrigued and have a lot of questions??....can i assume this Tagua slice you have turned into a piece of jewelry is a slice of a nut ?....What steps does it take to prepare and preserve said nut ?....Inquiring minds want to know !?! 

Thanks to all, and yes Steve, tagua is a nut that grows on tagua trees (alot like a palm tree) down in the amazon basin in south america.  The inside of the nut, once dried, is a vegetable ivory, pretty much identical to animal ivory, but renewable.  They are maybe half again the size of a walnut.

 

I buy whole nuts, mainly cuz I wanted slices that were a little thicker than what I was finding pre-sliced.  Basically, I belt sand (50 grit) the nut untill I get the face of the slice the size I want, then use a table top band saw w/ a home made fence to cut the slice (I have a special push stick I made for this), then I smooth up the face and back on the circular sander (400 Grit). and I have a slice ready to cut.  After I cut the slice I clear coat the bark around the edges to lock it down (it would eventually flake off).  I do this with the pattern paper still on the face so I only coat the bark. Since this is basically ivory, cleaning off the spray adhesive and pattern paper is a snap with mineral spirits.  Drill a hanging hole, and you've got a necklace.

 

Alot of the locals in South America carve whole nuts into chess set pieces, which I find amazing as thats outside my skill set.

[Scrolling Steve]

Thanks for the info Kip....one last question....what blade do you use for the scroll work ? 

[Vott1]

Thanks for the info Kip....one last question....what blade do you use for the scroll work ? 

typically I use flying dutchmans 2/0 polars, but if there is alot of detail I'll go to a 2/0 peguin silver for a little more control.  The polar blades last longer on the tagua though.

[Vott1]

Thanks for the info Kip....one last question....what blade do you use for the scroll work ? 

also, I use tungsten micro bits for entry holes as hss bits tend to leave burns around the hole

[Scrolling Steve]

Thanks again for the information Kip !

[LarryEA]

With out a doubt, we have amazing and talented people here and you are one.

[Dave Monk]

Definitely something new. They are beautiful. Thank you for sharing. dave

[Vott1]

Thanks Larry and Dave, I gotta say, as there isn't many scrollers in my area, I'm having alot of fun here in the village

[amazingkevin]

Thanks to all, and yes Steve, tagua is a nut that grows on tagua trees (alot like a palm tree) down in the amazon basin in south america.  The inside of the nut, once dried, is a vegetable ivory, pretty much identical to animal ivory, but renewable.  They are maybe half again the size of a walnut.

 

I buy whole nuts, mainly cuz I wanted slices that were a little thicker than what I was finding pre-sliced.  Basically, I belt sand (50 grit) the nut untill I get the face of the slice the size I want, then use a table top band saw w/ a home made fence to cut the slice (I have a special push stick I made for this), then I smooth up the face and back on the circular sander (400 Grit). and I have a slice ready to cut.  After I cut the slice I clear coat the bark around the edges to lock it down (it would eventually flake off).  I do this with the pattern paper still on the face so I only coat the bark. Since this is basically ivory, cleaning off the spray adhesive and pattern paper is a snap with mineral spirits.  Drill a hanging hole, and you've got a necklace.

 

Alot of the locals in South America carve whole nuts into chess set pieces, which I find amazing as thats outside my skill set.

Whoa! that's taking the hard road to produce such a display of talent

[Vott1]

Thanks Kevin, sounds harder than it really is, about 8 to 10 minutes to get from whole nut to cutable slice

[Ron Johnson]

Very nicely done Kip.

[kywoodmaster]

Those look great.

[Lucky2]

Nicely done Kip, they should be easy sellers. I've been thinking of buying a few of those nuts, I want them for decorating my turned pens with.

 

Len

[wombatie]

AMAZING.  Such intricate scrolling, well done.

 

Marg

[newfie]

Those look great thanks for sharing

[daveww1]

very nice work

[Denny Knappen]

That is sure beautiful and thanks for the info about how you go about getting the blank ready.