Making Abalone Inlay Blanks - Luthiery Tips - Klesh Guitars - Mother of Pearl - Ebony 

Remember, *always* wear a respirator when working with abalone. The dust is really not something you want to be inhaling…

Great video! I do the same thing I was lucky enough to have a customer who had boxes of huge abalone shell that she had in her garden when she lived on the coast and was nice enough to let me use. When I flatten my blanks I just use a Dremel in a Dremel drill press with the large diamond wheel, that way I can make them all a consistent thickness. I'm glad you warned about the dust it's extremely terrible to even breath a small amount that stuff. I dig what you are doing keep up the great work!

A little ingenuity can go a long ways, always fun watching the channel and learning new things. Thanks for the show, see you on the next one.

I love that you chose a simple K inlay for your logo. That's gonna look really sharp.

use a pipette and acetone to unstick the shell from the tape. It will float right off. I've been doing it that way for 30 years.

excellent advice, ingenious approach to several challenges,just what I needed.Many thanks for sharing.

I had no idea, I'm going to learn so much about quality guitars. This is cool. 😎

Check local high end restaurants to see if they have your shellfish of choice on the menu. As a chef I know the shells are often discarded. You might be able to get as much as you like very cheap.

Glad I watched this. Now I'm heading to my luthier supply to buy some ready dots😄

Can you explain the use of the 2 boards on your sander - the one on the table and the other under the belt? Good view at 5:11. Thank you.

oh yea klesh,keep these videos coming I will watch them all gold panning,prospecting,guitars,anything bro🤟

Thanks for the great video, now I have a much better idea of how to work the abalone shells I have!👍👍

Really enjoyed this one! Thanks for sharing the process with us.

Very talented! Thanks Klesh

Have you considered using a dop stick to hold the shell while smoothing the one side down? Dop sticks work great with opal sanding and polishing.

Would I get similar results just sanding them down flat and using calipers to measure them rather than using the planer?

Going to do same except in a large tub of water ,cuts the deadly dust to zero.😊

is there a subsitute for the thickness sander?

Man understands double sided tape. KUDOS

Great video. Inventive.

Thank you, very helpful

Do you know if there’s anyway of dying,staining or colouring these?

Dont mean to be an alarmist but cutting Abalone is an extremely dangerous health risk.

I am a first time viewer. Maybe others already know this, but I am new to lutherie. (retired carpenter/cabinet maker). What grit sad paper on the belt and thickness sander?

great stuff ty for sharing, do you preferer one color abalone too another?

I like the “K” but hope it doesn’t confuse people with the same thing at Kiesel guitars. It’s an option for the neck inlays. It’s awesome watching you do the micro details of guitar building. So many builders just give the Cliff Note version.

Oh to be a luthier… I’d have cool little damascus chisels and stuff

Nice! I'll chek garage sales for ya! I found penny sized real M.o.P buttons, 6 for 10 cent. 🤘👍

Maybe you can run your sander on your down draft table when sanding the abalone. Your down draft table looks like it works great.

Be careful, one artist got poisoning from the dust as the seashells contain heavy metals thanks to us humans. I would do that outside with heavy duty mask

Ik this is a year old, but if you havent changed your methods since, you should.. You should cut under water, to keep the dust from getting airborn and wear ppe

Now I know why I’m paying $10K for my Gibson..

Ummm....yeah....it's abalone....a-buh-low nee......NOT a-buh-lone

It is pronounced a·buh·low·nee.. The "E" is not silent. just saying.

Sapresti dirmi come colorare la madre perla direttamente sulla chitarra