Abalone

**patfatdaddy** · #1 05-24-2012, 04:27 PM

I received a sheet of abalone today that I had ordered and it is pretty stiff. How do I soften it up enough to wrap around a blank? I only ordered a small sheet (3"X5") to see how difficult it is to work with.
Pat

**Swampland** · #2 05-24-2012, 05:18 PM

Where did you order it from? The abalone that Kevin Knox over at Anglers Envy is the most user friendly out there. Cut to fit, boil in water in the microwave for a few minutes then apply on the rod by rolling it around the blank slowly.

**patfatdaddy** · #3 05-24-2012, 05:44 PM

I ordered it off of Ebay. Probably not a good idea but it was cheap. If this is something that I think i would like to do I will give Kevin a call. Thanks for the info.
Pat

**red34** · #4 05-30-2012, 10:53 PM

Boil it for a few minutes. It's going to get a white haze on it and the back will be fully wet (you'll see what I mean). Then take one pre-cut, pre-numbered piece out at a time to apply. Need to move fast here. Gently roll it on with your fingers and your heat gun. Immediately apply thread over it under high pressure. An ugly size D works, as you're just throwing this away after. I like to leave it under thread for at least 3-4 hours, but overnight is probably best.

**ToddyTrout** · #5 05-31-2012, 04:19 PM

I have used it quite a bit with mixed results and I've tried boiling water, microwave and heat gun. The only stuff I've used was the old thick sheets that come from Mudhole and there are 2 factors that come into play. The biggest is rod diameter. If you're doing a trout rod it's VERY difficult to work with especially if it's above the foregrip where the dia. gets really small. The other is color. The red and teal blue for some reason are stiffer than the other colors and much harder to work with.

The heat gun method works best by far for me but draw a start line on the blank and make sure you get the abalone started strait on that line. Use your burnishing tool to work it on and don't panick if it cracks most times after you wrap the thread around it tightly it will lay in place. i use EE thread by the way and I normally leave it for an hour or two. If you have a few small gaps in color you can normally find a sharpy close to the color abalone you're using to fill in and when you put epoxy on it know one will have a clue.

I just got some of the new microflex abalone today and I'm really excited to see how much easier it will be to use. I'll report back after I give it a try. I'm posting a few pics of some that I've done, if you have any questions I would be more than happy to try and answer them.

TT

**patfatdaddy** · #6 05-31-2012, 06:41 PM

What I have is thick and very brittle. I cracked it but now I can't find the crack so I guess it will be OK. I have to finish 2 rds before I will be trying to use it.
Pat

**bowhunter29** · #7 06-01-2012, 02:39 PM

Boil it in vinegar, not water.

jeremy

**chacker** · #8 06-01-2012, 11:39 PM

X2 the manufacturers out of Hawaii told me to boil in vinegar for 30 minutes as the Vinegar breaks down the calcium. A huge difference once I used this method and the heat gun to roll it around the blank.