Thread: Cutting Recon Stone

I received an order from Masecraft (awesome experience btw) the other day and I bought a slab of recon stone to experiment with. I've done some searching with no luck, but can anyone give me an idea of what would work well to cut the stuff without damaging anything?

I also ordered some buffalo horn and paper ivory micarta to practice scale making and I don't foresee any problems cutting those materials. Just a side note, Masecraft sent me a few extra materials with my order (extra horn, some imitation pearl, and LVS acrylic abalone). At first I thought it was a mistake and contacted them to see if they messed something up and if they wanted it back. They told me they do this sometimes to keep people coming back. It definitely worked on me!

I have never worked with recon stone but have heard it is very brittle, So u have to be careful when cutting it , sanding, fitting ect.
As for using Horn and micarta, those are pretty easy to cut with a scroll or bandsaw , the micarta being a little bit harder than the horn. I also love macecraft when they throw in those " extra goodies" it definitely makes me come back , also there great CS .

I cut mine with a scroll saw. You do have to be careful cause it is brittle and will snap on you if not careful.

I've used recon stone for inlays on several woodworking projects and always used riffler files to cut it. It takes a little longer than using a scroll saw but I felt it gave me more control in cutting it.

Definitely watch out when peening and using recon stone as your wedge. It can snap if you A. tap to hard and B. the inside of the scales aren't flat with the sides of your recon stone. Another issue is drilling a hole. If not careful it can also snap or part of the hole can become brittle and break off small pieces.

I've noticed that when replacing wedges sometimes people use tapered wedges and sometimes they are more of a flat spacer. Being that you say the scales should be perfectly flat, and I plan to use recon stone with aluminum, should I keep everything flat for my first time and possibly go back and change it out later when I am more comfortable?

You either make a tapered wedge or use a spacer, which is what most start with. When they get more practice they usually end up making a tapered wedge. The reason I said flat, is because the recon is so brittle, when trying to peen your wedge or spacer, if it's not perfectly flat on both sides, the tinniest amount of play the recon stone has can result in a nice crack. Been there, done that. LOL

haha thanks! I'm glad I have a full slab so I can make plenty of mistakes

Yeah - definitely watch out when drilling the pin hole. I've snapped more than a couple doing this. Slow and steady.