Microwire Saw

Hi All,

I am embarking on a new project which is combining my fascination
with pietra dure for wood and scaling it down to jewelry size.

I saw this at the Tucson Gem Show at GJX and was blown away.

http://www.topus.ru/mosaic

After talking with a good friend of mine who does pietra dure in
wood and learned the process in Italy said I needed this particular
saw to do the work.

From Gryphon Corp:

There is no practical way of forming an .008" wire into a
continuous loop for rock cutting purposes. A knot cannot be
used and a weld of no extra diameter is too weak to provide
proper tension. Moreover, a continuous loop will not permit
internal cuts to be made in a design. The Gryphon Micro Wire
Saw therefore uses a long length of wire which repeatedly
reverses direction as it comes to each end. In order for the
wire to remain in a constant position on the cutting platform,
it is held on a threaded drum which in turn rotates on a screw
of the same pitch. One turn~s looped up over a wire pulley
which is counter–weighted to provide tension. As much as 50
feet of wire (and as little as 3 feet) may be held on the drum.
The height of the loop is adjustable so that perfect
squareness can be maintained.

Read more at: http://www.gryphoncorp.com/microwire.html

They don’t make this unit any more, but they do maintain it, if I
find one that is in need of repair. If any of you know where I could
get one, please let me know. I am watching Ebay of course, but if
there is another source for this item I’m all ears.

Thanks,

-karen

Karen Christians
M E T A L W E R X
50 Guinan St.
Waltham, MA 02451
Ph. 781/891-3854 Fax 3857
http://www.metalwerx.com/
Jewelry/Metalarts School & Cooperative Studio

Karen,

At the MJSA show just a couple of months ago, a company was demo’ing
a diamond-wire saw that also blew me away. I’ll have to look through
my literature tonight and will see if I can remember who it was. I
remember it being out of my budget plans for the year, so may not
have picked it up, but it should be listed in the exhibitor listing,
at least.

As I recall, it worked in the method described here for the Gryphon
saw (reciprocal motion) and had a drip-recirculation water system
built in.

I’ll let you know what I find.

Karen Goeller
No Limitations Designs
www.nolimitations.com

Now that link was a blast from the past!! I remember when I wanted
one of those in the worst way. I used to do that kind of work, but I
never used a saw - just a 6" trim saw, and the rest was cutting. In
case you don’t know, at least the way we did it, is to build the
design first and glue it down, and clean up the excess glue
thoroughly, and they fill in the background. We called it
stone-on-stone inlay. That Gryphon saw is a pretty rare item - it
will be slower, but you can buy diamond blades for jeweler’s saws -
they might fit in the right jig saw, too. Or you can just use wire
and charge it with grit. But we just built it up out of pieces all
ground to fit… The difference between doing this work in wood or
hardstone is lightyears apart.

I just purchased a thistle absolutely cool. I feel it is an
extension of any gem carving and inlay. good luck on the saw If I see
one I will let you know.

Teri
Silver & Cameo Heritage Jewelry
www.corneliusspick.com

This is a current scroll saw type diamond saw by Gryphon

http://gemstoneworld.com/hardware/saws3.htm
http://www.glassmart.com/omni2.asp

I don’t know of any current small band saws specifically for diamond
blades but there are really big ones.

jesse

If you’re cutting wood, you don’t need to use a diamond saw. You’ll
have much better results with a scroll saw, like the Microlux
multi-scroll saw - see micromark.com. It takes regular jeweler’s saw
blades.

Andrew Werby
www.unitedartworks.com

John,

The Pietre Dure in wood is made from stone, but inlayed into wood.
Wood inlay into wood is called marquetry. The person whom I am
working with is Paul Schurch, from schurchwoodwork.com

You are right, that wood and stone are miles apart. I just happened
to LOVE little tiny things, micro bitty. I think it comes from too
many years of staring into a microscope and finding a whole world of
art.

I found a .039 Taurus 3 saw from Diamond Pacific. Had a talk with
Don, nice guy who said this would work well. Paul on the other hand
insists that the the microwire saw is the way to go. But you know,
he’s Swiss and quite exacting. If you check out his site, you will
see what I mean. He spent 4 years in Italy working with masters
learning this art. The images on his site don’t do them justice.
He’s working on a marquetry fish on a table which is jumping for a
pietre dure lure with fine silver inlaid into the wood as the fishing
line.

The little stuff is cool and the crossover between wood and stone
have endless art possibilities. Somewhere a piece of art with
granulation, pietre dure and marquetry is brewing in the back of my
mind. Don’t know where this is all going yet, but I’m very excited.

-k

Karen Christians
M E T A L W E R X
50 Guinan St.
Waltham, MA 02451
Ph. 781/891-3854 Fax 3857
http://www.metalwerx.com/
Jewelry/Metalarts School & Cooperative Studio

I recently bought a lapidary band saw which I like very much. It will
cut a minimum radius of 3/16". A friend sells them and has offered a
discount price. If interested let me know and I’ll send contact info.

Kevin Kelly

If you're cutting wood, you don't need to use a diamond saw.
You'll have much better results with a scroll saw, like the
Microlux multi-scroll saw - see micromark.com. It takes regular
jeweler's saw blades. 

I’m not cutting wood. I’m cutting stone. However, the process of
micro petra dure is similar to that of cutting marquetry for wood.

-k

Hi Kevin,

I recently bought a lapidary band saw which I like very much. It
will cut a minimum radius of 3/16". A friend sells them and has
offered a discount price. If interested let me know and I'll send
contact info. 

Apparently I need a diamond wire saw with a blade size of .008,
which is why I am looking for the mcirowire saw.

-k

Karen Christians
M E T A L W E R X
50 Guinan St.
Waltham, MA 02451
Ph. 781/891-3854 Fax 3857
http://www.metalwerx.com/
Jewelry/Metalarts School & Cooperative Studio

Karen,

There was a fellow at MJSA who was selling diamond wire saws like
the one you describe. Check out his website

http://www.welldiamondwiresaws.com

They are very expensive instruments.

Jim

James Binnion
@James_Binnion
James Binnion Metal Arts

Karen,

DoveBid [www.dovebid.com] has two wire saws up for auction starting
June 6th. Click the Procter and Gamble auction. Type “wire saw” in
the Search Assets box [go!] to shorten the list of pharmaceutical
equipment.

They are lot numbers 2378 and 2588.

I’m in the area and can pick it up for you, in case you have any
trouble arranging for shipment.

Jeff Simkins
Cincinnati, OH
simkinjrATemail.uc.edu