Mother of Pearl

Easy Inlay's mother of pearl is very rare; very colorful; and soft, not brittle. It's a versatile, natural mineral used to create many types of inlay. It can be used as is, or dyed to emulate a variety of luxurious gem stones such as sapphire blue, ruby red, jade green and more. You can also mix it into our other inlay materials to add a shimmering translucent chatoyance effect. These grains add iridescent, colorful shimmer to any inlay design; it comes from the inner layer of the shell of some oysters and abalones.

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1oz jar $19.95 (Fine or Flake)

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We can ship only to US-based addresses. For international shipping, please visit Makers Central or Wood Workers Workshop.

 

On the Mohs Hardness Scale, mother of pearl has a hardness of 2.5 and is easily sanded using silicon carbide (carborundum) or aluminum oxide (corundum) sandpaper, which has a hardness of 9.0. It is durable and provides an excellent surface to polish and/or finish.

 

Note that these products are made from nature: there may be variations in color and minor impurities which add to the overall natural aesthetic. 

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Fine is for small inlays: for large inlays and fuller coverage, consider flake Mother of Pearl or adding coarse crystal calcite.

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Mohs Hardness Scale

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Mohs scale of mineral hardness is named after the scientist, Friedrich Mohs, who invented a scale of hardness based on the ability of one mineral to scratch another. Rocks are made up of one or more minerals.

 

According to the scale, Talc is the softest: it can be scratched by all other materials. Gypsum is harder: it can scratch talc but not calcite, which is even harder. The hardness of a mineral is mainly controlled by the strength of the bonding between the atoms and partly by the size of the atoms. It is a measure of the resistance of the mineral to scratching.

 

"Mohs scale of mineral hardness." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 12 Jun 2017, 12:47 UTC.

26 Sep 2017, 18:25