All About Pocket Knives

I've decided to rehandle a knife with paua shell. I've never worked with this material before and I was wondering what is the the best way to cut/shape it. Also, does anybody know what brand of adhesive is safe to use on paua shell? Any advice would be appreciated.

I have not worked with Paua, but I would think you would want to wear a respirator as with MOP & Abalone.
Beyond that I am out of suggestions.

Please keep a photo journal of what you do and how it works out.
I know several of us would be interested to know how you work it and how it comes out.

Good luck!

Thanks, Dale. I was hoping someone had first-hand experience, but I have a pretty good idea of how to do this. I think you're right. From what I've read you basically treat it like MOP. I have to put the project on hold for a few weeks because I'm going out of town, but I'll let you guys know how it turns out.

Paua is the Maori name for Abalone. Since the thick inner layer of the Abalone shell is composed of nacre or mother-of-pearl, when working with them you would treat them all the same.

jerryd6818 wrote:Paua is the Maori name for Abalone. Since the thick inner layer of the Abalone shell is composed of nacre or mother-of-pearl, when working with them you would treat them all the same.

That's what I thought. If I remember correctly the difference between abalone and paua is that paua comes only from the waters off the coast of New Zealand. I think I read somewhere that the abalone that paua comes from is a different species too, which is why paua looks different from your usual abalone, but don't quote me on that.

dcgm4 wrote:

jerryd6818 wrote: Paua is the Maori name for Abalone. Since the thick inner layer of the Abalone shell is composed of nacre or mother-of-pearl, when working with them you would treat them all the same.

That's what I thought. If I remember correctly the difference between abalone and paua is that paua comes only from the waters off the coast of New Zealand. I think I read somewhere that the abalone that paua comes from is a different species too, which is why paua looks different from your usual abalone, but don't quote me on that.

All abalone are of the genus Haliotis. In addition to 'abalone' common names also include ear-shells, sea ears, as well as muttonfish or muttonshells in Australia, ormer in Great Britain, perlemoen and venus's-ears in South Africa and pāua in New Zealand. There are about 100 species of abalone around the world, of which there are three species that live in the waters around New Zealand and are called pāua:
Haliotis iris (species - Paua, common name - Blackfoot Pāua)
Haliotis australis (species Queen Paua, common names - Silver Pāua, Yellow Foot Pāua, Hihiwa & Karariwha)
Haliotis virginea (species - Virgin Pāua, commonly referred to by it's species name)

So you see, unless there is provenance proving the shell came from New Zealand, it can't properly be called Paua. Of course they could call it Paua and it might come from the coast of California. Who would know?

An expert might be able to tell where an abalone came from by looking at a knife handle but I don't think any of us could. Suit your fancy. If you're doing the work, you can call it anthing you want but I don't think I would pay extra just because someone says it's Paua. It all looks the same.

There's one thing for sure, it's beautiful stuff. I've always wanted a knife handled in abalone and could never quite afford it so I bought a cheap Chinese doctor knife that has it. Colt I think. Even the Chinese can't diminish the beauty of abalone.

All that long winded malarkey, just to say you're right. The way I understand it, Paua is a species of abalone so there's really no difference but to be called Paua, it needs to come from New Zealand. Does that make sense?

It may have been a bit long, but it had great information in it. I always love learning new things.