: Has anyone ever used abalone or mother-of-pearl as an inlay? I have designed
: an arrow that will (may) go down one side of the kayak. I wanted to do the
: arrowhead in abalone. It would only be a small inlay- this stuff ain't
: cheap. Anyone ever tried it?

Hi Malcolm,

I've been thinking about doing this for quite a while now. On a trip to New Zealand I saw a lot of inlay work done with paua shells. Paua shell is very similar to abalone, but with much more color, usually blues. It looks fantastic as an inlay in wood. Paua shell is available at the link below, they will send you a sample pack for $10 that might contain enough material to do your arrowhead design. They also have a bunch of other shell veneers that look interesting.

Hope this helps,

Paul