Silver Inlay Questions - George Wilson?

[Eric Brown]

Perhaps someone (George Wilson?) can answer some questions about inlay using silver amd other metals.

1. Where is a good place to get such materials?
2. What special tools make the job easier?
3. I've never worked with silver but understand it is very soft. Can you cold form the scrap back into useful shape?
4. Any special glue considerations?
5. Any special surface smoothing techniques?
6. Any special finish considerations?
7. Is inlay width limited because of wood moisture changes?
8. If making a closed loop inlay are the ends simply butted or are they "soldered" someway?
9. Is there a good book with lots of examples of metal inlay?
10. If going around an edge, can the metal be bent or is it better to butt the ends?

Thanks. Eric

PS: George, thanks for telling us about the Nicholson Super-Shear files. I got my 14" one and have been trying it on scraps. Seems to work really well. I never thought of it before, but apparently files and rasps work better going with the gain same as planes and chisels. Sometimes I may be slow but thats ok. I'm not in a hurry. The learning continues.

[Eric DeSilva]

When I did a wee bit of silversmithing, I used to buy silver from Rio Grande Jewelry Supply. Easy to deal with, and they carry silver wire in any number of different forms. I haven't tried inlay, but I'm guessing you want to spec annealed silver that can be easily worked--its referred to as "dead soft."

While annealed silver starts soft, working it will cause it to harden. Typically when that happens, jewelers will reheat it to cherry red, at which point it is annealed and becomes soft again. You may be able to form soft scraps into a ball or something, but the pieces won't merge and combine unless you heat them sufficiently to melt them back into an ingot. Such silver can be resold back to jewelry supply places--they will turn it back into sheet/wire.

In terms of what you are thinking about doing, one thing you might look for is a pair of "flush cut" wire cutters for silver wire, also sold in jewelry supply places. Should give you more of a flat end to your silver cuts, as opposed to normal cutters, which will create a point. If you have a point, the closed designs you were talking about might have joints that are more obvious. You might even consider filing edges flat.

[george wilson]

So many questions! Silver sheet can be bought from many places,Rio Grande is one source. Google silver sheet. Get a deep throat jeweler's saw.6" deep throat will do. You also need an assortment of jeweler's saw blades. 6/0 will be probably as fine as you need to go,and get some thicker ones too. Get a set or 2 of the very small drill bits that go down to #80. They don't cost too much. You need to start sawing in a small hole for internal shapes. They need very high speed To keep them from breaking. A set of decent needle files costs over $100.00 probably. Grobet #2 cut 6" will do. Cheaper ones don't have crisp corners,and you need crisp corners to do accurate work. Don't understand the scrap question.

Old time inlayers used to rough up the bottom sides of metal in inlays,and just glue them with hide glue. You don't want traces of something like epoxy getting past the inlay,and showing up when you try to varnish the object,or stain it.

There isn't much you can do about smoothing the surface of silver inlaid into wood but to sand the whole project with fine sandpaper. Don't use wet or dry. It will mess up the wood. Use worn out 220 garnet or aluminum oxide for final smoothing. If the inlays are small,you can varnish or lacquer over them,but of course metal isn't an ideal surface to expect a finish to stick to.

If you butt the ends together snugly,don't worry about soldering. None of the silver wires in my marquetry guitar's neck were soldered,nor was wire inlay in old guns.

There are books about marquetry that include metal inlay techniques. I have a large book printed in France. It's packed away. Google marquetry books. Mine wasn't cheap.

I have to go,so,good luck. Glad the files pleased you. I think they are great. The above post is good,too.

[george wilson]

There are cheaper sources than Rio Grande. You should google sheet silver and check out sources. Rio Grande is convenient because they have catalogs that sell everything.

Mettaliferous (sp?) in NY is worth checking. Hoover and Strong,silver refiners are perhaps a cheaper source. My wife and I have a jewelry business,and buy many pounds of silver castings at a time. But,we use what the caster supplies. They often add little ingredients to make their silver cast more crisply.So,we don't buy a lot of silver sheet. Most of our models are brass. No need to waste silver on models that will be made into a rubber mold,and wax injected.

Nickel 200 is a pure nickel. It won't tarnish nearly as readily as sterling. Remember,you can't polish those inlays without turning the wood black. READ THIS: there is a special sterling alloy called argentium that doesn't tarnish much. It has some germanium in it. It costs a little more than sterling,but it would be worth it in the long run. Rio Grande sells it.

P.S.:I just googled argentium. check it out,and check for suppliers.

[Eric Brown]

Do you use special tools for pushing the metal inlay into the groove?
Veneer hammer or something?

Thanks

Eric

[george wilson]

No veneer hammer! Any effort to roll or push the silver down would probably result in the silver getting a curve upwards on the ends. You must accurately rout the depth of the silver,and carefully make it flush to the wood as possible. It isn't easy,or clean for the surrounding wood,to sand down the silver if it is sticking up a little above the wooden surface. I used to use a small hand router with a 1/32" wide blade that I made to get into all the little interstices of inlay to accurately lower the background.

For silver strips,gently press them in. Don't try to force anything. To to FAQ in Neanderthal section,and read what I wrote about inlaying the silver wire into the neck of the marquetry guitar shown there. You can lock in thin wire inlay. Read about it.