[knotty panda]

My brother just returned from a mission trip to Dominica, a beautiful rain forest island northeast of Venezuela. He kindly brought me a lovely pearl bracelet. He knows I'll just use the pearls as raw materials in some other design so he always purchases things without clasps and cheaply strung. Well, I was tearing this bracelet apart (big, pretty, baroque freshwaters) and apparently the drill holes are of varying sizes. Not uncommon to find this. However, this was strung on fishing line and the line refuses to budge from some of the holes. I stuck a 22 ga. wire down the holes hoping to force it out, but all it did was pack it in and made the matter worse. I hate losing these pearls. The last 3 would make a very pretty pendant. Any ideas?

Here is one of his pictures.

[Sueki]

You could try gently reaming.
It'll take ages but will remove the fishing line eventually.
Altrnatively, I have another remedy of which you are well aware........

[knotty panda]

I KNOW! And don't think I didn't think about it! I've been curious about my Dremel. I've never used it on pearls as I would probably wind up drilling my thumb into my elbow. Anyone use Dremels? What bit?

[Sueki]

I don't have a Dremel, but do have an electric reamer, and this will remove the fishing line easily, but the reamer does make the hole larger.
So I'd say use the smallest bit you have with your Dremel.
Hold the pearl in a glass of water while you drill, too. (Use rubber-tipped tweezers to hold the pearl so's you don't risk making a large hole in your fingers).)

[jerin]

Originally Posted by knotty panda

I KNOW! And don't think I didn't think about it! I've been curious about my Dremel. I've never used it on pearls as I would probably wind up drilling my thumb into my elbow. Anyone use Dremels? What bit?

Knotty,
this might be a plain stupid idea but could you test on a cheap pearl with some bit of fishing line in it: take the thread zap, heat it and go into the hole to melt the line, and very fast go after it with a needle to push it through before it hardens to a lump. I don´t know whether it will work, but it is worth a try. BTW the same would be possible if you heat the top of an ordinary needle with small tip if you don´t want to risk the zapper.

[knotty panda]

Dag-gone Inge! You just may have something there! Actually, the pearls are about as cheap as can be, but since my brother was excited to give it to me, I'm excited not to lose them. I'll let you know how it works! I don't have an electric reamer like Sueki was talking about. How strong is the reamer? 22 ga. wire begins to bend before it pushes the compacted line out of the pearls. Hmmmmm, gonna go try it right now.

[knotty panda]

I found a rigid Beadsmith needle in one of my cigar boxes of beading stuff. (One day I have to organize them -- why? I'll just mess it up again! ) I know it's thin enough to go all the way through one of the pearls, so it should be able to reach the obstructions. I'm heating the needle to melt the obstruction, but it is slow SLOW going. When the obstruction is hot and plyable, there's nothing to pull it out with. So I am changing the shape of the obstruction, letting it cool, then poking around. Reaming this out would be so much faster. Taking a deep breath and canning the pearls would be so much more logical!

[jerin]

Hi Knotty,

I feel very sorry for you but since the pearls are important, keep going.....

[Pearl_dreams]

What about trying a blast from a can of compressed air (using the straw that comes with the can to direct the air into the hole)?