question about drill holes

[hana]

Hi all,

I'm new here on the forum, but I would like to ask a question.

I bought a new freshwater pearl necklace and on several of the pearls, at the site of the drill holes, several are double sized...meaning that the shape at the drill hole is like the shape of an "8". Is this typical? It seems unsightly to me, but this is my first purchase and I don't want to complain without reason.

Additionally, some of the pearls have visible drill holes totally separate from where the pearl is strung, as though they made a mistake and redid it. I find this unacceptable and have complained about it...it made me feel like I bought outlet quality pearls. There are just so many instances of it, that I feel that it can't possibly be an error.

Like I said, I am new at all this, and I would appreciate feedback from all you seasoned pearl lovers.

Thanks in advance

Hana

[jshepherd]

There is another reason why this may happen too, something we recently discovered ourselves.
If the pearls have been half-drilled, if they are loose-pearl earring quality, and then they are drilled through at a later time, they often miss the original hole. This is not an uncommon practice when extra earring material is needed.
We just discovered this problem with a new lot of our loose pearl grade that was half drilled and dyed. The drillers were not careful enough to line up the holes. Now we have no choice but to break up hundreds of strands to pull those mis-drilled pearls.

[cindyclark]

It does sound like you may have gotten some pearls drilled by a beginner. But there is a practice of redrilling the end pearls (1 - 3) to make their holes a little larger for the knotter to pull the string back through. But, it should just make the hole bigger, not a figure 8. Perhaps they aimed badly?

Cindy

[Caitlin]

Hi Jeremy

Now we have no choice but to break up hundreds of strands to pull those mis-drilled pearls.

What a bummer! Hundreds of strands!!! And if each strand has more than one such pearl---- A MAJOR bummer!

What quality is "Loose Pearl earring quality"? Freshadama? And what do you do with all the mis-drilled pearls after you restring? Can you jam them back on the seller?

It sounds like it would would not improve the value to plug the holes. Then next time you will get sold the ones with the plugged holes- or some other hapless buyer will!

What material could the extra holes be plugged with?

[jshepherd]

No, they were the new 6-7mm blacks that we just put up on monthly special. Today we are going to determine whether we need to pull them off the Site for the time being, or just separate the strands. From what we have been able to determine there was at least one person matching that did not seem to care when she ran across the 2-holed pearls. A lot of the strands are perfect, then we find one with 5 or 6 pearls that should not have been included.
Anyway, we were able to catch it shortly after making it available, so only a few went out. But we are going to contact those people today.

I can 'sort of' explain how this happens. The drills used in China for fully drilled pearls pass through a cup before entering the pearls. They do not use the single-sided swivel drill. This means that they cannot always line up the holes by sight to an exact point, frequently missing the original hole. This is understood and expected, but the flawed pearls should be disposed of, not put into a strand. That was the fault of the matcher, and again our fault for not catching it immediately. It is just a shame as the pearls were loose-match quality, so even removing 4-5% is taking a hit on it.

[Caitlin]

I am still curoius about the fate of the misdrilled pearls after you find them? Do you send them back?

Also with what would they fill the holes so they could be resold?

[jshepherd]

These days they are simply discarded, yes. These particular pearls will be discarded, but not until they make their way back to Zhuji.

The same thing goes for Tahitian and South Sea pearls as well, even though they are much more expensive. We probably lose one pearl of every 3-4 necklaces we drill. Believe it or not the percentage has dropped significantly since we have started using the 20-cent Chinese drill bits in lieu of the $3 Japanese - the cheap Chinese bits are hands-down superior.

[hana]

Hi all,

Thanks to all who replied. I didn't realize I would learn so much in the answers to my questions.

The necklace was definitely not a scrap piece, and the company I purchased from is a reputable one. I made contact with the seller and was able to come to a satisfactory resolution.

Thanks again to all who replied with feedback and information.

Hana

[pearl-man]

Chinese quality control sucks. Never happens with Japanese material. Its not normal but no doubt the result of being paid by the number of pearls drilled without regard to the outcome.
Just drill,drill,drill. Sorry I've had them also and just chuck them or make pendants out of them. Sell for cost or donate to an animal shelter or cancer fund raiser.

[pearl-man]

Hi I finally made the post but screwed it up a bit by not being able to delete the necklace picture which is not the necklace to which the pearls I fixed belong.

[pearl-man]

Hmmmm I found the cheap Chinese drills to brittle and break inside the hole. It takes a bit to release the broken piece and not worth the time sometimes if not for just trying it out to see if it works.
I had the Japanese drills sharpened in Japan for free. Lucky me. I drill dry and slow. UNLESS its a very big expensive bead then I use water. I can resharpen but it takes alot of time. The
technique of sharpening in this area of metal working is not a mystery. I think your success with the Chinese drills is the result of 1 maker who uses the right steel.

Norm

[jshepherd]

I had to read over this thread again to remember (it's about five years old), but yes, we still use Chinese bits when possible. The Japanese ones are sold here in Los Angeles, but the Chinese bits seem to work better. I don't know if it is necessarily the metal. It's more about the shape of the drill. The only caveat is that it's nearly impossible to resharpen the Chinese bits. The Japanese are a lot easier because the end has only one surface to sharpen.

[pearlescence]

If you are using water to drill does that mean you are not using a fixed flat bed horizontal drill? That is when bits breat - the 0.7 ones are so fine that the least deviation will over stress them and they will snap (that happens with us when we are enlarging drill holes for stringing and use a handheld drill, though not often now as years of practice means we can hold it spot on usually) I would not want to do an initial drilling with a hand held drill.