Work Process
Ken Dinneen
(541) 549-1611
e-mail me at: ken@holeystones.com
P.O. Box 1651 . Sisters, Oregon 97759
Making a bead
Cutting Blanks
First a piece of "rough" is selected. I look for rough which is clean and free of pitting
and excessive cracks. I then cut blanks from the rough on the diamond saw. I try and get as
many bead blanks as possible this is called maximizing the yield and is never done at the expense
of quality.
Drilling
A bead blank can be drilled by scribing an "X" on both sides with an aluminum
point or lead pencil and then drilling through the center. I sometimes
like to round the blank into a cylinder before I drill it. The drilling is
done partially submerged in water using a flexible shaft tool with a diamond bit. I use a tripple ripple
1.8mm bit for most beads.
Shaping
Each bead is shaped by hand using a wooden mandrel which is placed in the
hole. The bead is then turned against the wheel to shape it. The rough wheel
is used to attain the initial shape. Many shapes of beads are possible
but the primary ones are barrels, tubes, and roundels.
Sanding
Many hours are spent sanding groups of beads. Each bead is sanded on between 4 to 7
succesively finer grits to achieve the desired results. My favorite grits for soft material
are 280, 600, 1200, and 3000 grits. But I regularly use the 80 grit, 140 grit, and 14,000 grit
depending on the material.
Polishing
When all the beads are through the wheels they are ready to be polished. Primarly I use a polishing compound
called zam on a muslin buff but I also polish using either optical cerium on leather
or Mountain Mist which is another fine quality product. After polishing the beads are inspected
for finish quality.
