String Inlay Questions

[Justin Roberts]

I am starting my journey down the inlay road.

I have a foredom with a stewmac base and edge guide. Just bought the brass to make up some handtools. Bought Steve Lata's DVD and did a hands on with Charles Bender on string and sulfer inlay.

Any advise? Things in the beginning that you wish you had done differently?

I will be adding string, berries, and initials to a spice box.

Thanks.

[mike holden]

Justin,
If you have the Latta DVD then build the tools he shows. you wont need the foredom at all.

The hardest part is thinning the inlay strips to thickness. I learned a neat trick from a friend, use a block plane - hold the strip against the sole with your thumb just ahead of the blade and pull the strip through. You will need to reverse the strip to get all of it, but it works MUCH better than the scraper unit that LN sells. (BTW, I have the LN tools and they are very nice)

You wont need the foredom, or any powered router, as the groove for the inlay is very easy to do by hand. Cutting and fitting the inlay is the hardest part.

Here are some pics of my work in progress, note that it is not yet finished, still some inlay to do.

Mike

131252

131253

131254

[Barry Vabeach]

Justin, the hardest part for me is staining the project and not getting any stain on the inlay. Wish I had a tip, but I have tried both suggested methods and neither seems great. One way is to stain the field, and apply a few coats of clear finish, glue in the inlay and then scrape it level to the field and apply clear to the whole piece. My problem is in scraping the inlay without scraping through the stain in some places. The other suggestion is to put in the inlay, scrape it flush, then apply clear sealer, using a fine brush, to just the inlay, then applying stain to the field with the assumption the sealed inlay won't pick up the stain. It sounds much better in practice than it has worked for me, but it could because I am such a lousy finisher.

[Rick Thom]

I read an article in FWW where they used coloured epoxy instead of wood for stringing. They just used ordinary 2 part epoxy to which colour was added. Epoxy was applied to the groove and once dry was leveled with a card scraper. I haven't tried that yet so can't recommend it. Perhaps others know more about this option?

[Rick Thom]

Any advise? Things in the beginning that you wish you had done differently?

I will be adding string, berries, and initials to a spice box.

Thanks.
No expert here but to reduce frustration ...for the first few simple projects use materials that don't require colouring so you can concentrate on getting the process right without worry of sealing the stringing perfectly before colouring the field.

[Justin Roberts]

Also, I have seen sulfur inlay. It doesn't pick up colors.

I was also told that holly doesn't pick up color like other woods due to its density. Is that true?

[Kent A Bathurst]

Just finished my first inlay - pewter + MOP. Sands like wood and doesn't take any stain :)

[Justin Roberts]

Kent,

I was just talking to a friend (jewler) about pewter inlay. Any tips, photos, or resources would be much appreciated!!!

[Kent A Bathurst]

Kent,
I was just talking to a friend (jewler) about pewter inlay. Any tips, photos, or resources would be much appreciated!!!

Justin - Here's what I know-learned. BTW - my first - and to date only - run at this stuff. Made a small desktop printer stand out of cherry and cherry veneer for a friend that didn't ask for one, so I just swung for the fences - this was my self-taught home-schooling seminar on a few techniques I was interested in. and told her she could return for full money-back guarantee. No call. Yet.

1. I wanted "square" wire (v. round). Research on-line and a phone call told me pewter is too soft to make into wire for sale. I wanted soft.
2. Bought a 6" x 12" sheet of 14 ga (= 1/16" thick) from T.B. Hagstoz online. $36 + shipping. Found them via google. Helpful on phone. Fast delivery. Happy with service.
3. Bought a 1/16" router bit for my lam trimmer (plus a spare for nervous guy) from stewmac.com. Also needed a collet adaptor to take the 1/8" bit shank to 1/4" collet.
4. Bought a 7-1/4" Lenox 60t "alum cutting" circular blade (for TS - didn't need a 10" for this task).
5. Double-faced tape between pewter sheet on top of scrap 1/2" ply to run across TS. Had to measure carefully till I got the hang of it, because I did not feel good about a 1/16" cut between the blade and the fence, so my target piece was on the outside of the blade. Couple scrap pieces till I got the math down right, then a dozen strips no problem. Cut 1/64" undersized - maybe not quite that much. So, had nominal 1/16" x 1/16" square pewter wire in 12" strips. Kerf loss > finished wire.
6. Couple light passes with 600g W+D paper along the "down" edges of the strips - not a true bevel so much as elim any burr.
7. You can mark the pewter with a marking knife, and cut it to length with a chisel. I did not use my japanese or LN chisels or Hock knives, though. Used gen one tools that some vandal had dropped onto the concrete floor and ruined.
8. Small dots of medium viscosity CA along the bottom of the inlay groove. Thin was too messy to control. Medium worked great.
9. The pewter can be sanded using regular paper, ROS, hand block, w+d, whatever. Keep going to maybe 1000g or so, and you get a nice mirror finish. THE ONLY PROBLEM is that it puts out black dust. So - I put down a few sealer coats of 1.5# shellac first so I could wipe off the black dust easier with Min Spir.
10. The funny part - I had an elaborate scheme worked out so none of the inlay strips would cross each other - wanted to stay away from that on my first run - avoid complexity. Of course, I screwed up my first cut into the wood, had to cross over strands, and it was all simple, so I changed the designs and teed it up.

Lemme know if you need something else - no doubt I did some stupid stuff that inlay experts can guide us both on, but the pewter was very easy to work with - softer than brass, copper, whatever. Final finish multiple coats 1.5# shellac. Rubbed through 1000g all surfaces. Briwax Clear all surfaces except top (visions of sliding printer). To rottenstone on shellaced top. The pewter just kept looking better and better each step - especially the trunk of the "tree" where there are 6 pewter wires beside each other - can't honestly call it "seamless", but the the surface is consistent across the face.

Two mistakes: (1) messed up one of the holes for an MOP dot; (2) SWMBO has a printer with no stand. "You're making what? For whom?" "But, sweetheart - they have a fishing boat on the Chesapeake." Looks like neither mistake can be repaired easily. Oh, well.

[Barry Vabeach]

Justin, I used holly, and yes it picked up the colors, even after I tried to seal it - it didn't get very dark, but it ruined, for me, the bright look of holly.

[Charles Bender]

I am starting my journey down the inlay road.

I have a foredom with a stewmac base and edge guide. Just bought the brass to make up some handtools. Bought Steve Lata's DVD and did a hands on with Charles Bender on string and sulfer inlay.

Any advise? Things in the beginning that you wish you had done differently?

I will be adding string, berries, and initials to a spice box.

Thanks.

Justin,

Sulphur inlay won't pick up color but it's just not the same as wood inlay. It fun but, if you recall, it can be a bit odiferous.

If you're making the tools I outlined on my blog (http://www.acanthus.com/blog/2009/10/14/wia-a-behind-the-scenes-account/) or the tools from Steve's DVD, the Foredom tool with the router base isn't necessary but it will certainly work with some creative jigs.

As far as tips go, work slowly. Take your time and work as accurately as possible whether you are using the hand or the power tools. Patience and a bit of practice before you head to the spice box.

In regard to the inlay taking color, here's a picture of the legs from a Federal dining table I made. http://www.acanthus.com/images/inlaid-dining-table-leg.jpg The photo isn't the best but you can clearly see the stringing. I made the stringing for this table from soft maple. The inlay was set into the legs before assembly and scraped and sanded along with the legs. Before applying color to the table, I used a small artists brush to shellac the inlay. This did stop, or at least slow down, the transfer of color to the inlay from the stain. If you're looking for a tip, try it out on a test board before your real piece. It might take a couple of seal coats to insure the inlay doesn't change color. The next tip is for sealing the inlay and it goes right back to my last paragraph...patience.

Also, don't apply shellac as a sealer then use an alcohol based dye to color the table because the alcohol will dissolve the sealer...

If you run into any trouble, you're welcome to visit my website and email me with your questions. I'm better at answering emails than the phone (which you are welcome to try if you have patience:))

Chuck Bender
Period Furniture maker

[Jeff Monson]

I use Lie Nielson inlay tools and have watched Steve's videos several times, the only problem I had with inlays was getting ebony to consistent thickness. The slicer and thickness tools just made toothpicks for me on ebony.

I finally have a process that yields nice results.

1. start with 3/4" ebony stock I usually order 3" x 24" x 3/4"
2. rip thin strips on the tablesaw, usually around .035 with a ZC insert.
3. carpet tape the strips onto a sacraficial board that has been jointed and planed to consistent thickness. I use some 3/4" stock about 5" wide and at least 24" long and tape the strips side by side as close to each other as possible.
4. Run the board with the strips through the planer, this is the critical part, make shallow cuts with your planer. My inlay cutter blade is .025 so that is what I plane the strips to. I will take a small sample off to measure after each cut.
5. set your bandsaw fence to 1/8" and rip the board with strips attached, the inlay strips can easily be seperated from the backer board at this time.

I have very good success with this method and it produces alot of stringing with perfect thickness.

[Mark Levitski]

Not meaning to hijack a thread (it does say "string inlay questions"), but I need advice on the right adhesive to use for a sisal cord inlay on a bowl that I turned. It is a somewhat wide inlay, 1 1/2", and I tried epoxy first by letting it set up a bit and get tacky. As I wound the cord uphill, it tended to slide down upon itself, bunching up a bit and getting epoxy on the topside of the cord. I tore it off and will sand it down again to restart. I since have tried a construction "high tack" adhesive in a caulk tube and this time did a test on a scrap piece of wood. I was not satisfied with the adhesion, though the cord did not slide around on me. I want a textile inlay look and cannot have any adhesive showing on top. And I don't think I can apply to both the wood bowl AND the cord, so need to search for a "one-side application" adhesive--i.e., apply to wooden bowl, wrap cord, done. According to the "dry" application, this will look very nice.

Any ideas you guys/gals?

Thanks.......Mark