I figured it was worth a shot & you don’t know 'til you ask,right?..lol
Anybody familiar w/coral? I’ve snagged a 1/2 doz. bits recently,as a balance to the turq., & have a suspicion that it’ll chip if I’m not careful. Not really worried about breaking these pieces cuz they’re pretty thick but …for example,gathering branches into a “tassel” & having them clank each other didn’t seem wise.
Thoughts,folks?
I have some Turquoise and natural Red Coral Necklaces. They are vintage 1980’s. Have worn them a lot over the years, The largest coral branches are about 2.5" long. They have hit each other many times and never broken.
Can you post a photo of what you have? That could help.
I haven’t strung much coral but I have a bunch in my gem boxes. It seems to be pretty durable. I think its a 3-4 on the mohs scale so it’s softer than turquoise.
The branches are pretty big…like a bit thicker than my little finger,maybe 2in.long? One round bead is comparable to a cherry tomato & the cylinder is 3/4 in. long by about the same diameter.
All “pre-owned”,drilled & natural color.
Maybe I’m thinking of glass? Same sort of “clink” ? 
Thanks for the calm down-LOL
Hi Newpawn, Thought I would share this with you. in the first photo is dyed white coral on the left and real red coral on the right. Usually price is a good indicator of what you are buying. When I bought the large pieces on the left they were being sold as red coral but the price was too cheap so I knew I was getting dyed white bamboo coral. I was okay with that and hoped I could use it anyway. When I cut it it was white in the center as expected. Unfortunately the dye was water soluble and bled onto the paper towel so I can not use it in jewelry. The coral on the right is the real deal. Solid color, no bleeding and sounds like glass when it clinks together and not too cheap. Hope this helps, Kyle
Dumb question- is bamboo coral made out of bamboo or bleached skeletons of dead coral?
Hey,yeah,thanks…was seeing what these pieces were displaying(like,“nope,I’m too important to just be an addition” or " Yes,please,I like company") .
5 out of 6 of the big branches showed signs of dye,both big beads & new nugget-type bead bracelet are clean. Bracelet has 13 5/8in. +/- main beads & cost $10.The seller has a 24 in.similar necklace & accepts offers…hhhmmmm
Bamboo coral is true coral. It is creamy white, shaped like bamboo, and is a very porous yet hard material. Therefore it takes dye well and polishes to a shine. Here are some picks you can see the segmented stalks that are normally seen in the finished product. Hope this helps, Kyle
Neat! It looks nice in its natural form, too.
Oooooooo…Interesting! Thanks for sharing all these pics. 
It’s real coral. Simply looks like bamboo. If you do a search on google you’ll find lots of info on different types of coral.
