Pearl Abrasion

[jas932]

Anyone notice if power pro/spectra fiber abrades the pearls?

It cuts my hands, and it has been known to cut thru guides on fishing poles, so I'm wondering what it could do to pearls over time?

I'm thinking of the pearls rubbing up against the knots.

Also, has anyone noticed if this material breaks down due to age? Does it yellow or get brittle and crack?

thanks
Julie.

 

[Caitlin]

Hi Julie,
This thread my be too rough for you to use. The very silky Beadalon dandyline would not. The biggest problem in my mind is the lack of colors. I have heard the neon yellow stuff does bleed, but I would never use it on pearls anyway.
I have heard of sharp edges on a gemstone cutting through it. I started using it a couple of years ago- no problems with anything I've strung so far I've used up a dozen 400 yard rolls and am on 1,500 spools in 10, 20 & 30 pound. It is rough, but has never cut my hands. I am still wearing the bracelet shown in the Silk Challenge thread. That means all showers/baths and sometimes dishwater. If anything the luster is even better. I am having problems with my camera battery or I would take a new picture.

HERE is the Silk Challenge thread

 

[boo]

Wow - Caitlin, that makes me feel a lot better. I am a bit traumatized by all of the "no hair spary/cosmetics/creams" warnings, and will often forego wearing my pearls if I don't have a full half hour in the morning to let my moisturizer soak in (I use it on my chest and neck as well as my face). Knowing that yours have survived all of that exposure makes me feel a little better. I may still be freaky protective with the more costly strands, but I may relax a bit about the beading grade pearls...

 

[waimeamomi]

I'm exhausted from reading that thread. What a lot of information and varying thoughts and opinions. I'm just a schmuck knotter, and use the hated Griffon with the needle and the one thread method. I don't use a tool, although I keep my bent nose pliers handy for problems. I haven't noticed any stretching. I guess I'm a Lowly Beader first and foremost!

 

[boo]

Julie, I have also been using PowerPro since about the time that Caitlin told us about it, and all of my pearls are doing just fine. In fact, the necklace I just finished with the Freshadamas and keshi was done with PowerPro. It is rough on my hands, and I cannot knot a necklace in one sitting - I knot until my fingers start to hurt too much to go on, and then lay it down for a day or so.* However, I love it and have pretty much given away all of my other beading material. (I do have one spool of Detolon I keep for household use, such as securing my Christmas tree to protect it from the ravages of excitable kittens)

*I don't actually need a full day for my fingers to recover, but I am usually so distracted with work, kids, pets, etc that it will take a day or two until I have a quiet moment for knotting again

 

[Caitlin]

Boo,
I couldn't tell what you used to make that masterpiece. I am impressed it was powerpro.
*****
random thought:
I often use those goggles that magnify 6x or so. I am always shocked at the close up condition of my hands and fingers. They are terrible, so unmanicured, knarly and workworn, no wonder the PowerPro does not bother me.

 

[Caitlin]

I guess I'm a Lowly Beader first and foremost!

Hear, hear for the schmucky ones!

Though I gotta tell you Griffon spools are cheap- like $3.49 each, come in many colors, stretch little. So a few spools and a pack of beading needles will give you much more flexibility in your choices. Once you knot with two threads, you can hardly miss getting the knot tight, don't need any tools. If the knot ends up a mite away from the pearl, pulling the two threads apart will hunker it right into place.

*****
Except for the beauties I got from TPO and PP, I buy commercial quality pearls of fabulous color and suburb luster, usually a little off round, often baroque, usually under $10 a strand, often $2-$3 a strand. That way I can afford to buy many pearls at the shows and make lots of gifts and pieces for my daughters to sell/give away. Often the clasps cost more than the pearls. The cost to make pieces up is around $10 per, including thread, needles, pearls and clasps. This's why I call myself a lowly beader.

I delight in all the folks who have taken this much further and use AA_AAA pearls and gemstones, but until something better happens, I have to stick to my cheapo choices.

 

[laurenb]

I don't know that gel-spun polyethylene, branded as Spectra, would be more abrasive to pearls than silk because the real source of the abrasion would be dirt trapped by the fiber. In that sense, Spectra would be better than silk because it is more tolerant of washing.

It is very hard on the hands. I saw a warning on Power Pro's website about trying to rip the filament with one's hands. It'd be macabrely funny if they started to include an amputation warning on the box.

My advice is to find a pair of high dexterity (stretchy) work gloves and cut off the fingertips or first two fingers, but don't cut the part between those fingers because that'll ruin the fit. You can find them for less than the link I provided, but that's my favorite style-- stretchy inserts, palm/finger protection, velcro wrist rather than elastic wrist.

Bionic-X, TuffChix, Mechanix and others make gloves specifically for women's hands, but men's small sometimes fits me. Some companies make gloves without fingertips. You mainly need the padding and protection on the pinky and ring finger if those are the fingers you use to knot. Habitat for Humanity really does teach one useful things. ;D

 

[Caitlin]

spectra is spun into tiny tubes by Powerpro, dandyline does something different to get the silky feel. Just plain spectra cuts through parachute lines, it has to be processed into something to be usable for beads.

The 10# thread might be yanked apart, though the threads are so tiny, like sewing thread, it would probably cut your hands before you could break it, but the heavier threads are very difficult to break by yanking. That's one reason I love it. Heavy beads strung on 30# would need to have a 60# yank to break the doubled thread, so when you knot with it, the weakest part will be the clasp, unless you get a strong senora clasp.......

As I manage to break or stretch almost any thread, except this one, it became a favorite with me as I value strength of the piece over softness or color. Non-stretch over stretch.

There is a downside to just about every thread to counterbalance the upside, just as there is for clasps.

dirt trapped by the fiber

I have yet to see dirt trapped by the fiber, although I have dropped food on them more than once, it is easily wiped off, while the t-shirt needs to be washed because the cotton absorbs it totally as does silk. Something about that tube weave, maybe.

 

[laurenb]

I have yet to see dirt trapped by the fiber, although I have dropped food on them more than once, it is easily wiped off, while the t-shirt needs to be washed because the cotton absorbs it totally as does silk. Something about that tube weave, maybe.

Very true. Perhaps if skin oils worked their way inside the pearls from the PowerPro, they could carry abrasive dust or grime, but this seems no more likely than with silk... probably far less likely and easier to prevent. I don't have a silk-strung strand that has lasted more than a few months without soiling and stretching, but this has not been an issue now that I've put most of my pearls on PP.

 

[jas932]

Thanks everyone. I guess only time will tell if the power pro fibers age well or not.

Thanks for the glove suggestion, but my hands are so calloused it's really not a problem. I just thought "wow, if it can damage my hands, what does it do to the pearls?"

Think I'll run my own abrasion test. I'll post if I notice the knots cutting into, scratching or otherwise damaging the pearls.

.Julie.

 

[Sueki]

I use Powerpro, Dandyline and silk and haven't noticed any abrasion at all.
But, I have noticed pearl dust around the drill holes when using Beadalon wire.
I use the beadalon wire to temporarily string pearls when designing, so they aren't on the wire for very long, thank goodness, but there is still dust appearing even after a very short time.

The food thing - I've spilt a mug of coffee over white Powerpro, and it didn't stain at all.
I simply pat dried the Powerpro and it came up white as new. (Phew!)

 

[Nerida]

I mostly use Powerpro - for pearls of all grades. I am still thinking I should "one day" get some Dandyline to give it a go. So far, the only damage from the Powerpro is to my hands. If I do more than a couple of strands in a day, then my hands are just too sore to string again the next day. I get small cuts as well as masses of abrasions. The pearls though seem to be completely fine.
As I spend a fair bit of time playing my piano, sore hands are a bit of a problem!