inlaid mother of pearl

[nine fingers]

I have been asked if I could replace a small missing peice of mother of pearl inlaid on a very old box. Can ayone point me in the right direction about obtaining ,cutting and glueing. Any help appreciated.
regards John

[Cruzi]

You can get mother of pearl from Box Makers Hardware (http://www.veneerinlayaustralia.com.au/cgi-bin/engine.pl?Page=page.html&Rec=327), remember seeing a piece on inlaying it, can't locate it just now, but a fret saw or a scroll saw seems to be the way it is cut.

[Sebastiaan56]

Luthiers do this kind of stuff regularly Nine Fingers. Start with Mainwaring amd Connor Guitars, Bob Connor is the man. They are in Geelong. Mainwaring & Connor Guitars (http://www.mcguitars.com.au/)

[powderpost]

G'day John,
I have tried to cut mother of pearl for escutcheon plates for boxes, with a fine tooth saw. It was hopeless as the pearl is very abrasive. For straight cut I found a ceramic cutting disc in a 4" grinder very good. For curved cuts, I use a carborundum covered wire in a hack saw frame very successful. It appears to me the most successful way to cut mother of pearl, is by some form of abrasive mother of pearl. It will destroy any "cutting" edge very quickly. I will also be interested in any further input into this.
Jim