Working with real amber?

[billiard]

My apologies if this has been asked before, my searching did not find it.

I just came into a "block" of very bright, light, fairly transparent amber, though "glob" is probably more accurate. It is roughly 3" X 1.5" X 1.5" and when I make a pipe that it would benefit I would like to make a stem out of it. I have never worked with real amber before and I have heard this is pretty expensive material so I do not want to mess it up.

Assuming my belief on cost is correct, would anyone care to answer some questions for me?

- I can make stems from vulcanite rod, would my same tools and processes work with Amber?
- do I have to use completely "bubble free" areas? Or just where the air hole will be?
- I have read where some like insects viewable, this has none, but it has some sort of small black thing suspended in it. Can that be kept in?
- Can I go to the same thinness of a good vulcanite bit or should I leave more?
- Anything else I should know?

Thanks very much,
Billiard

[kbadkar]

Wow. What an adventure! I don't know of any modern pipemaker that has used it. It's very delicate, so leave more meat on the button than you would with vulcanite. I wouldn't use amber for the tenon though, I don't think it'll last.

[billiard]

Wow. What an adventure! I don't know of any modern pipemaker that has used it. It's very delicate, so leave more meat on the button than you would with vulcanite. I wouldn't use amber for the tenon though, I don't think it'll last.

Thank you much for this info. The part of your comment I bolded though gives me caution, if it is that rare to get a hold of then perhaps I should see if the one or two pro's I am friends with might want to knock a couple bucks off a block or something for me, instead of me messing with it. I am just a hobbyist.

[Dotter]

Can you post picture or two?
Im just curious how this looks like.

[billiard]

Can you post picture or two?
Im just curious how this looks like.

I will try. It's really hard to see much from a pic though as any surface imperfections show through from either side, and one side is pretty mishapen, so it looks like a mess until you really look at it up close.



Maybe looks smaller than it is since I have really big hands. I should point out that I am not positive this is amber, it is what I thought it was when I saw it, and when I said "hey what is this" the reply was "amber". From pics of the stuff, and reading online, it matches up...

I think I am going to put it on a shelf for awhile, until my skills improve a little more, before attempting anything with it.

[TRS]

I had sketched out an idea for a churchwarden with amber 'drops' along the stem. Please keep us updated as to how it is to work with when you get around to it. Thanks!

[Dotter]

Thnx for posting pics.

I'm really interested how this will turn up in the end.

[JHowell]

Julius Vesz still uses it. I think Peter Heeschen has used it in the past. Very tricky stuff to work with, from what I've heard. I don't think I've ever seen amber that wasn't already worked to some degree. At any rate, I would advise saving it. However good your skills are now, they'll be better in five or ten years and you'll be glad you didn't whizz it away.

Jack

[KurtHuhn]

To do anything worthwhile with it you're going to need lapidary tools - primarily a belt sander with some zirconia alumina belts. It will still be slow going, generate the finest and most hazardous dust you've ever seen, and irritate the bejeezuz out of your eyes. Drilling it will be an adventure in broken drill bits and new swear words. This pearl of wisdom from a jeweler friend - I've never worked true amber.

And, that said, all the pipe stems I've ever seen (note: that's not "all pipe stems") that are made from "amber" are not made from true fossil amber. They're actually made from one grade or another of copal and are often confused with true amber. Copal has the benefit of being able to be melted and poured into a form, sanded and shaped using regular woodworking tools, softened with heat and bent, and drilled without fear of destroying bits or the workpiece. This I have used before, as a spacer on a knife handle, and on one pipe that I made as an experiment.

I'm not saying that true amber stems don't exist, but if they do, you can bet that the maker spent a *serious* amount of time working that stem, and a *serious* amount of money getting a piece of amber large enough to make a stem out of it.

[billiard]

Thanks very much everyone.

It sounds like it is out of both my current skills and tools, so it will get put on a shelf for now.

Sure is an interesting looking glob though

[JHowell]

SNIP generate the finest and most hazardous dust you've ever seen SNIP

And flammable. Don't forget flammable.

Jack

[KurtHuhn]

FWOOMP!!

[billiard]

So I will have the finest, most hazardous, and higly flammable dust?

Glad I asked first, usually I am puffing on a pipe when I am working on a new one, this could have gone very badly!

Thanks guys, and if it is, or isn't expensive stuff: I am now glad I got it basically free.

[Frank]

Copal has the benefit of being able to be melted and poured into a form, sanded and shaped using regular woodworking tools, softened with heat and bent, and drilled without fear of destroying bits or the workpiece. This I have used before, as a spacer on a knife handle, and on one pipe that I made as an experiment.

- I used to make my own sword and knife handle "amber" from pigmented pouring resin. I even added tiny bugs from the garden. When folks inspected the knife/sword I would tell them it was genuine "African Amber". Since amber is just fossilised resin, and I'm from Africa, and I made the stuff - hence, "African Amber". After spinning them along for a few minutes I would 'fess up and admit that I had made it, but no one ever doubted that it was real amber until I told them.

[nameless]

Amber is a soft material. Working it is easy.
KEEP IT COOL! Thats the big thing. It melts (and can 'stick' a hot drill-bit giving you a devil of a time getting it out!), smells like the piney woods because that is what it is, tree sap.
It works like plastic and has many of the same qualities. It can be a bit chippy if not careful, but with reasonable care, there shouldn't be any problems. If you can work plastics, you can do this if you take your time and, again, keep it cool.
Yeah, it's flamable if you hold a flame on it long enough. So is a diamond. But pointing a lighter at it isn't going to lose your eyebrows, it'll eventually melt and drip like plastic.
The dust is not as bad as plastic, there are no artificial polymers and such, it's tree-sap! Smells great in the fireplace! Common sense tells us to wear a respirator anyway, but if you are using hand tools; coping saws and files and sandpaper and such, there's no problem. I've found it one of the more enjoyable materials with which to work. It's soft, so go s...l...o.....w...!
There's some very inexpensive 'young' amber from South Amerika, available with all sorts of intresting critters in it to play with.

The following sites can provide a world of information and, armed with that, sally forth and enjoy!

All About Amber
PROPERTIES of AMBER
Amber - Frozen Moments in Time

Have fun, it's only tree sap! *__-

[KurtHuhn]

Actually, this is a common misconception. What you're talking about is actually copal - unfossilized tree resin. The stuff from South America is exactly that - "young amber", or copal. You can get it from Africa as well. See my post above.

True amber, while it will burn, will not melt from a flame. The surface will become tacky, yes, but it will simply burn and not through-soften. True amber also is significantly harder to work than copal.

Let's try to keep the two things separate - there's already enough confusion out on the 'Net about copal and amber.

[eder]

BeatusLiebowitz ---
I had sketched out an idea for a churchwarden with amber 'drops' along the stem.
Please keep us updated as to how it is to work with when you get around to it. Thanks!

Yep. That's basically what I use real amber for.
Here is Saber that I just finished this weekend.

Saber
....
....

It has two drops of real amber along the bamboo. The annoying part of the amber is to define a shape
that keeps the resistance of the stone. The stone is usually hard, but sharp or pointed
shapes can be less resistant than the rounded ones.

Cheers,
eder.

• • •
Eder Mathias
http://mrhydepipes.com

[nameless]

Actually, this is a common misconception. What you're talking about is actually copal - unfossilized tree resin. The stuff from South America is exactly that - "young amber", or copal. You can get it from Africa as well. See my post above.

True amber, while it will burn, will not melt from a flame. The surface will become tacky, yes, but it will simply burn and not through-soften. True amber also is significantly harder to work than copal.

Let's try to keep the two things separate - there's already enough confusion out on the 'Net about copal and amber.

Please don't think that I am discounting your experiences with amber and copal, I am simply relating my own.
Perhaps not 'drippy', but a soft material and easily worked nontheless. I have worked both copal and amber.
There are different 'qualities' but none that I have found (Baltic primarily) are 'hard' enough to require lapidary tools, though lapidary tools can be used. Hand tools have worked fine.
I mentioned the 'copal' because that could well be what is in the picture, the 'young' SA 'amber' or perhaps Australian kauri 'amber'. I imagine that 'amber' from different sources might have slightly differing qualities. Again, I'm just relating my own experience, as, I'm sure, so were you.
'Reality' is a sum-total of all perceptions, not either or, 'right' or 'wrong'...

[Abi Natur]

I love to work in such natural materials,hope you'll dig that stem as clean as a whistle and share the wisdom.
Will watch for your posts.

Abi

[billiard]

Thanks again for all this information everyone.

I am really just a hobbyist and I usually spend the bits of free time I get making (what I like to think are fairly unique) custom corn cob pipes. I still mess up frequently making a decent stem from Lucite, and just do everything with hand tools so right now this amber glob is still sitting on a shelf. I have been having fun making cobs with Morta shanks lately so I think this might end up on a pipe like that, but for right now it will stay on a shelf until I feel more comfortable cutting into it.

Thanks again,
Billiard