Chris Hodges wrote:

> Andy Dingley wrote:
>>
> And run the dremel on slowest speed?
>
I'd say high speed and very little pressure is better.

In article <3g94d1Fbc185U1>, nobody says...
> A strange request perhaps.
> SWMBO has tasked me to convert a clean, blown, natural ostrich egg into a
> container for a specific purpose.
> The egg is approx. 6.5 x 5.0 inches (165 x 127mm) and 2-3 mm thick. Makes
> the eyes water just thinking about it!
> Can be cut either longways or sideways.
> As this is a one-off and we only have 1 egg, I would like to get it right
> first time. Also only a week to produce the finished article, to include
> hinge, fastener, turned base etc.
> Any experience or thoughts on such stupidity please?
>
> I have a decent range of hand & power tools but have never worked on
> anything this fragile.
>
> Many thanks
>
> Nick.


I breed emus, you can cut an emu egg in two with a water cooled tile
cutter power saw. You can probably do it with a fine toothed hack saw or
even an abrafile. I am sure an ostrich egg will cut in a similar
fashion.

"Nick" <nobody> wrote in message
news:85u1
> A strange request perhaps.
> SWMBO has tasked me to convert a clean, blown, natural ostrich egg into a
> container for a specific purpose.
> The egg is approx. 6.5 x 5.0 inches (165 x 127mm) and 2-3 mm thick. Makes
> the eyes water just thinking about it!
> Can be cut either longways or sideways.
> As this is a one-off and we only have 1 egg, I would like to get it right
> first time. Also only a week to produce the finished article, to include
> hinge, fastener, turned base etc.
> Any experience or thoughts on such stupidity please?
>
> I have a decent range of hand & power tools but have never worked on
> anything this fragile.
>
> Many thanks
>
> Nick.
>==================
Have you considered telling SWMBO that she will NOT be obeyed? There is a
last straw for everybody no matter how down-trodden.

Cic.

On Thu, 2 Jun 2005 20:23:31 +0100, "Nick" <nobody> wrote:

>A strange request perhaps.
>SWMBO has tasked me to convert a clean, blown, natural ostrich egg into a
>container for a specific purpose.
>The egg is approx. 6.5 x 5.0 inches (165 x 127mm) and 2-3 mm thick. Makes
>the eyes water just thinking about it!
>Can be cut either longways or sideways.
>As this is a one-off and we only have 1 egg, I would like to get it right
>first time. Also only a week to produce the finished article, to include
>hinge, fastener, turned base etc.
>Any experience or thoughts on such stupidity please?
>
>I have a decent range of hand & power tools but have never worked on
>anything this fragile.

Whatevery you do I'd be inclined to try it out on a hens egg first. If
it doesn't work on a hens egg it won't work on an ostrich egg..

sponix

"Gerard Doyle" <gd004c5119> wrote in message
news:ZEUne.8901>>
> ==================
> Have you considered telling SWMBO that she will NOT be obeyed? There is a
> last straw for everybody no matter how down-trodden.

I agree. I'm working up to telling Spouse that his word isn't necessarily
the last ...

Mary
[..]

Nick wrote:
> A strange request perhaps.
> SWMBO has tasked me to convert a clean, blown, natural ostrich egg into a
> container for a specific purpose.
> The egg is approx. 6.5 x 5.0 inches (165 x 127mm) and 2-3 mm thick. Makes
> the eyes water just thinking about it!
> Can be cut either longways or sideways.
> As this is a one-off and we only have 1 egg, I would like to get it right
> first time. Also only a week to produce the finished article, to include
> hinge, fastener, turned base etc.
> Any experience or thoughts on such stupidity please?
>
> I have a decent range of hand & power tools but have never worked on
> anything this fragile.

Mark the cut with a pencil. Hold the egg in a bed of cloth or white
sand Cut around with a fine-toothed saw with a good "set" on it. Do
not try to push the saw through, just let it rub away. Go right
around, turning the egg as you go, without cutting right through
the shell, until you find the saw going through, then carefully
finish off. Don't force the blade, don't let is waggle about. I
wouldn't use any power tool, and use something with a decent
length of blade so that it cuts to a good line.

On Fri, 03 Jun 2005 08:49:03 GMT, wibble (s--p--o--n--i--x)
wrote:

>Whatevery you do I'd be inclined to try it out on a hens egg first. If
>it doesn't work on a hens egg it won't work on an ostrich egg..

Hens eggs are very hard to cut (unless you use one from something like
Mary's hens). They're just too thin-shelled and fragile. With Dremel
and cutting disk, I've done one ostrich and a bunch of goose eggs and
had no trouble, but never a successful hen. This was a goose
http://codesmiths.com/shed/things/photos/egg_top.jpg

"Andy Dingley" <dingbat> wrote in message
news:56a5
> On Fri, 03 Jun 2005 08:49:03 GMT, wibble (s--p--o--n--i--x)
> wrote:
>
>>Whatevery you do I'd be inclined to try it out on a hens egg first. If
>>it doesn't work on a hens egg it won't work on an ostrich egg..
>
> Hens eggs are very hard to cut (unless you use one from something like
> Mary's hens).

Huh?

> They're just too thin-shelled and fragile.

I've never tried cutting them. Hmm, perhaps I'll try.

I'm sure that any hen's eggshell is much thinner than an ostrich's. I've
noticed that small wild bird's eggs are thinner shelled than those from out
banties and certainly our daughter'sduck eggshells are much tougher.

The turkey eggs we used to get were incredibly difficult to break but I
think that was because of the very tough membrane inside.

Mary

On Fri, 3 Jun 2005 14:52:56 +0100, "Mary Fisher"
<mary.fisher> wrote:

>> Hens eggs are very hard to cut (unless you use one from something like
>> Mary's hens).
>
>Huh?

I presume you feed your hens, rather than just hooking them up to a drip
feed of pureed school dinners and sheeps' heads, or whatever it is
agribusiness is doing this week.

Andy Dingley wrote:
> On Thu, 02 Jun 2005 20:58:50 GMT, Chris Hodges <chris_hodges>
> wrote:
>>>And run the dremel on slowest speed?
>> No, run it on the fastest speed compatible with the rating of your
> abrasive disks.

OK, just curious, as you suggested a glass-cutting diamond saw (IIRC)
which is normally a slow diamond saw (at least compared to one for tiles).

"Andy Dingley" <dingbat> wrote in message
news:gjjh
> On Fri, 3 Jun 2005 14:52:56 +0100, "Mary Fisher"
> <mary.fisher> wrote:
>
>>> Hens eggs are very hard to cut (unless you use one from something like
>>> Mary's hens).
>>
>>Huh?
>
> I presume you feed your hens,

Ah, I see.

Well of course I do - ad lib - only the best grain (organic, GM free etc.)
They also have scraps from our table (if it's good enough for us ... ) and
worms, woodlice, insects, spiders and the rest which they find themselves
and, if they get in the greenhouse, strawberries and, if they get in the veg
plots, whatever they like. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Also the small chalky chippings
from flints (makes super shells) and all sorts of things my poor old eyes
can't see.

> rather than just hooking them up to a drip
> feed of pureed school dinners and sheeps' heads, or whatever it is
> agribusiness is doing this week.

I leave that to be fed to the poor things in cages which produce the
crippled chickens and pale eggs sold as the finest by the supermarkets.

Not that there's anything wrong with sheeps heads, we eat them from time to
time. It's illegal to feed meat to chickens which give meat or eggs for
human food. I wouldn't feed ours meat ...

<whistles>

Mary

In message <42a01f6d$0$28626$4c56ba96>, Mary
Fisher <mary.fisher> writes
>
>"Gerard Doyle" <gd004c5119> wrote in message
>news:ZEUne.8901>>
>> ==================
>> Have you considered telling SWMBO that she will NOT be obeyed? There is a
>> last straw for everybody no matter how down-trodden.
>
>I agree. I'm working up to telling Spouse that his word isn't necessarily
>the last ...
>
I'm sure he came to that conclusion many years ago

"raden" <raden> wrote in message
news:fwyu
>
> In message <42a01f6d
>
> In message <42a01f6d$0$28626$4c56ba96>, Mary Fisher
> <mary.fisher> writes
>>
>>"Gerard Doyle" <gd004c5119> wrote in message
>>news:ZEUne.8901>>
>>> ==================
>>> Have you considered telling SWMBO that she will NOT be obeyed? There is
>>> a
>>> last straw for everybody no matter how down-trodden.
>>
>>I agree. I'm working up to telling Spouse that his word isn't necessarily
>>the last ...
>>
> I'm sure he came to that conclusion many years ago626c56ba96>, Mary Fisher
> <mary.fisher> writes
> I'm sure he came to that conclusion many years ago

He still hasn't had the proof.

work it out.

Mary

On Fri, 03 Jun 2005 15:38:50 GMT, Chris Hodges <chris_hodges>
wrote:

>OK, just curious, as you suggested a glass-cutting diamond saw (IIRC)
>which is normally a slow diamond saw (at least compared to one for tiles).

The type of saw I'm thinking of is a "ring saw", a bandsaw with a rigid
circular band of diamond-plated metal. They're slower in rpm than a disk
tile saw, but I think the linear speed is similar as the band is so much
bigger.

Both of them, being water-cooled diamond saws, are much slower than an
air-cooled Dremel disk.