Making hole in seashell

[S R Glickman]

Can anyone tell me if there's an easy way to make a hole in a seashell?

My daughter (15) wants to turn one into a pendant for a necklace.

Many thanks

Susan

[Weatherlawyer]

Just buy a fine steel drill. You can't get masonry drills small enough. It should last a fair few shells and they are not all that expensive. Take the string with you to see if you can find one justy that size.

Believe it or not, timber yards/builder's merchants will be the best place to buy them. Just don't call in the middle of the busy periods.

If you can't borrow a battery drill from someone, get a really cheap battery screwdriver. You can get the low voltage ones for about a fiver IIRC. They are absolutely useless for everything else except drilling small holes in sea shells and the like.

But they would be perfect for that.

[Jim Alexander]

Suppose it depends whether or not you have a suitable drill. Not having tried before I tested a shell I happenned to have using a cordless drill and a 1.5mm drill. No problems. The material is soft compared with the drill but structurally quite strong. Put the shell on a block of wood and gently drill in perpendicular to the shell surface about 10mm (say) from the edge of the shell. I did two (eye) holes and am about to add a painty nose and mouth.

Jim A

[S R Glickman]

OK. I'll see what we've got in the toolbox.

Thanks.

Susan

[S R Glickman]

Sounds like you're having fun!

Thanks for trying it out. I'll see if we've got that size drill bit.

Thanks again.

Susan

[Andy Dingley]

They're a bit fiddly, but certainly practical. Get some spares and practice first though.

You need a small high-speed drill, like a Dremel (Aldi sometimes have a usable one). A drill bit won't work, use something abrasive instead. Diamond points are cheap these days (most Dremel-like drill sets included a few) and are easy to work. You can also use a burr, a finely toothed metal cutter like a milling cutter. These are harder to control though.

Rest it on a wooden scrap block (often carved crudely to fit for better support). Take it slow and make repeated light cuts. Be very careful when breaking through, because that's when it often either cracks, or flies off into a corner of the room.

For shaping, you can use the brown abrasive disks with your Dremel. Always press radially onto the edge - sideways forces snap them quicker than you'd believe.

The smell is disgusting! Like being at the dentist, with an added tang of singed hair.

Wear eye protection! This stuff has a habit of shattering and throwing chips,

If you want to be retro, you can use an Archimedian drill or a bow drill (Search for it). One of these with a simple metal spade bit (no spiral flutes) is used with a back-and-forth action to drill through. They've been used since the Egyptians at least. Slower than a Dremel, but you'll get there. I'd say they're cheap (eBay), but then so are Aldi's Dremel copies!

Another way is to bend slightly-flattened silver wire over to make a claw setting.

are pretty much the same to work.

[Weatherlawyer]

I was thinking of shells large enough to be used on necklaces. Something small enough to dangle from an ear would be easily fixed with a blob of glue. A drill sounds like it will be too big, whatever the size of it.

What is she planning to fit the ring to her ear with?

[The Wanderer]

Err, I didn't think she was. If you read the OP, it was for a pendant for a necklace.