Drilling Stones

[Willy]

Full Lapidary work I am not yet ready to tackel, but I have been buying/trading/obtaining some great stones already cut/tumbled/polished for use in my wife's wiraping and jewelry making business.  Many of the stones we get, we specifically get undrilled so that they can be used in wire wrapping.  However from time to time, she decides she wants to string on one a necklace, so comes my turn to do the drilling.  Normally I stick to setting faceted gemstones but it appears I am being forced to spead my talents a bit.

Now I got all kinds of suggestions on what to get to do the actual drilling, high speed variable drill, drill press, light, running water, flex shaft, diamond drills, etc.   And I will say what I finally obtained appears to be great and should do a fantastic job.  However, I have run into one minor problem,  HOLDING THE STONE TO DRILL THE HOLE.  It doesn't matter if I want the hole front to back, side to side or length wise, I cannot find a good holder to make sure it doesn't move while I am drilling.

Any suggestion in what to look for and where to find would be appreciated.  Sometype of a special putty has been suggested in books and I find it by the 10gal bucket at many location on the internet.  Is this putty all that is needed, it seems to me some type of holder should also be used.

Thanks much for any help.  Willy

[Taogem]

Good question on the holding of the stone Willy.

I just walked in the door from a store where I have had my eye on a small bench type drill press.

I would certainly think it is safe to say that the variable speed is a must.

I would be interested as well to hear what works for others in regards to holding the stone. Especially since I would like to be able to have the stone in an actual pan of some type filled with water.

So for myself, would like to know how I might hold/clamp the stone inside of a tray type set up.

By the way...... I am leaving from this thread and starting to work on what I promised you yesterday. Should have it done shortly