Meerschaum Inserts

[JGVB]

I have a pretty little estate billiard that had cracks through the upper rim, so I chased them with the belt sander and stopped when I had achieved a pot. It will work well for smoking in my truck since I often smoke during my short trips, but there are still a couple cracks. So now I want to play with the meer inserts that I purchased a while back.

The problem is that my first two attempts with the meer were disastrous. I plopped them in tap water for a soak, and they disintegrated. I can't get very far this way. Should I have wet them more gradually? I could do the whole job dry with a dremel but I think the established method is to carve it wet, yes?

I plan on gluing the insert with egg white, as someone suggested, but you may have another suggestion.

20210613_061622.jpg

(510.47 KiB) Not downloaded yet

[DocAitch]

Sounds like those inserts may be pressed “meerschaum”.
An alternative to egg white would be water glass- (sodium silicate).
I can’t comment on working the insert, I don’t know what you have available.
DocAitch

[JGVB]

I did everything with a dremel, pocketknife, and sandpaper, and glued it with CA. Worked great, smokes like a champ. I'd include a pic if I could figure how to upload and insert.