How would genuine jade work if fashioned into scales? or even a brush handle. I was thinking about picking some up and either carving or having someone carve some scales for me. Is it durable enough? has anyone seen real jade used before?
Jade
- Thread starter Samouraï
- Start date
Brush handle yes, scales no.
When you close the blade into the scales, they flex.
A brush would be awesome though, especially in a dragon motif(Chinese, not european)
When you close the blade into the scales, they flex.
A brush would be awesome though, especially in a dragon motif(Chinese, not european)
- Thread starter
- #3
I wonder if I could use jade for the handle of a Japanese style straight razor. Might be a more expensive custom job, though. But it fits the bill. Would it be possible to outfit a vintage Japanese razor with stone, or are they more reserved for rubber/wrap.
Samouraï;1294885 said:
It would be hard to carve out/broach the hole for the handle to fit into, but you could do a katana style wrap, with jade menuki, or even a jade kashira.
- Thread starter
- #5
i was thinking scales with metal down the middle, like Bill's custom handle straights (non folding). But I would rather outfit a vintage blade...so i would have to wrap it.
Last edited:
Ahh, that would probably work, but would make the handle really heavy. But ya never know till you try it.
Jade is a very hard stone , an of course there are two types
Jadeite and Nephrite
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jade
Jadeite and Nephrite
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jade
Perhaps as a medallion/ inlay or carved bolster?
Nephrite isn't jade. Its totally different but because it looks a lot like it they use it as a cheap substitute.
True Jade comes in different colors and grades. If your talking about the green transparent to translucent stuff its mighty expensive and to carve the stuff you really need to know what your doing and because its so hard you need specialized tools.
It would make an interesting brush handle but unless you can do it yourself the expense would be the killer.
- Thread starter
- #10
I am assuming the tools are also very expensive. I would love to try it out myself, but I would probably work on Nephrite first because it is a softer stone. Maybe somewhere down the line I'll find some Jadeite and make something beautiful.
Thanks for the feedback. What are some cheap, easy to work minerals for making a brush handle? I only have woodworking tools (and then only basic stuff like drills, saws, and sanders). Also, how far do you bore out the handle for the nub? What kind of waterproof bonding glue?
Someone suggested Amber in an older thread, I think that would be awesome, or even a quartz brush handle
I wonder if you could modify the spacer to allow for flexing? Maybe that makes sense only in my head.
quartz comes in all sorts of different kinds, and being among the most abundant geological formations on the earth, is readily available. You might even be able to find some pale to deep green stuff to imitate jade, maybe even a nice rose or orange color. That'd be my bet.
Nephrite and Jadeite both fall under the name Jade
it is a bit confusing to many
http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/nenam/jade.htm
I deal in Jade here in Asia and can source "rough" to finished high quality cabochons.
What I work with is mostly Jadeite that I purchase along the Thai/Burmese border
Whether its called jade or not is immaterial its a totally different mineral. Its like saying fools gold looks like gold so its gold.
However your right its used interchangeably and makes nice jewelry.
If your looking to start out with stone carving you don't want to mess with stuff like amber mostly because it very expensive and sold in small quanities. Your best bet is get some Mexican Onyx which is CaCo3 and is pretty soft and best of all cheap and pretty easy to work with and looks good.
Stone is usually shaped by grinding and chipping depending on the material and like with some woods which can crack easily various stones have different qualities which can make them very difficult to work with or easy depending on what you want to do. Quartz is pretty hard too. Most stone carving tools are either diamond or sapphire tipped stuff. They also use carbide tipped metals but they don't always last very long. You could also get a chunk of soapstone which is very soft and easy to work with as is talc and chalk for practice.
Stone is usually shaped by grinding and chipping depending on the material and like with some woods which can crack easily various stones have different qualities which can make them very difficult to work with or easy depending on what you want to do. Quartz is pretty hard too. Most stone carving tools are either diamond or sapphire tipped stuff. They also use carbide tipped metals but they don't always last very long. You could also get a chunk of soapstone which is very soft and easy to work with as is talc and chalk for practice.
Not to hijack -- since this thread should remain focused on jade, but as I'm the one who suggested amber scales elsewhere, I thought I should report that I have begun experimenting... and with disappointing results. Problem seems to be that I began with extremely high quality true baltic amber. As previous posters here mentioned in reference to jade, the scales need to flex. The amber is too brittle and fragile for this usage, in terms of constructing the entire scales of the material. Haven't given up, though. More inexpensive copal, being far softer, may indeed be more yielding and forgiving.
But again - didn't mean to hijack. Amber is a resin; jade a stone.
- M.
But again - didn't mean to hijack. Amber is a resin; jade a stone.
- M.
- Thread starter
- #19
I'm glad you did. Amber is an awesome material that I was interested in as well. Keeping the thread alive. Could you post some pictures? Maybe in a new amber thread. were they breaking or what.
