Inlay help needed

[truitt sosebee]

My current project is a rocking horse for a Christmas gift. The body of the horse is quilted sapele and I am inlaying 1/4" wide strips of a contrasting wood for the bridle. I was thinking of using cocobolo for the inlays but I'm worried that the darker wood will stain the sapele either from the oil in cocobolo or from the sanding dust. I also thought of using a lighter wood for the inlays like cherry. Would the darker sapele stain the cherry? I guess I could just plane or scrape the inlays flush so I don't have to worry about sanding dust staining the lighter of the woods, or maybe it's not really an issue. What do you guys think?

[Ken Shoemaker]

I will be watching this thread with great interest. I just built a walnut jewlery box and inlayed 1/8" strips of QSWO. I found that when I sanded the dark dust got into the course pours of the oak even thought the sander is hooked up to a vac system. The box now is a "design element" that you dont find everyday, however, I'd like to avoid it in the future.

[Jeff Monson]

I'd final sand the project, cut the inlays and then use a scraper to bring the inlay flush. I've made that mistake on holly inlays and darker wood. I'm not sure about the oils in the wood, but darker sanding dust will muddy an inlay.