Carving and finishing Amber

A customer of mine has not so recently brought in a string of roughly
shaped polished amber beads that have been with his family since they
moved from the baltic. He would like them turning into individual
pieces which he can then give out to his family. I can’t seem to
design around the shapes with any satisfaction, so my thoughts have
turned to having the stones reshaped, an idea he is happy with, simple
oval beads for the smaller pieces (10x15 mm) and perhaps something
more involved for the larger pieces (40x50). My problem is that I
have no idea about how to carve the amber, which tools might be
appropriate, whether cracks running through the amber affect what you
can do with it, and how to go about polishing once the shaping has
been achieved. . I have been staring at them for so long now that I
though I would ask arround to see if there is an answer to my problem
out there. Help! Best regards. -