Inset stone / inlace on FLAT surface

[daniel lane]

Hi all,

I've been scouring the forums and looks like everything I find on this is in the Turner's Forum, which doesn't exactly help me. Has anyone here ever done the inlace or inset stone thing on a FLAT surface? I am making a box and I would like to inset either a stone (or bead, I'm looking at turquoise right now) and let it stick out a bit, or use the powder/inlace thing in a pattern on the top. Thing is, it's a small box (~3x7) and the lid is done as a raised panel, so I've only got about 1.5"x 5" of flat surface to work with, and I'm worried about bringing the surface to flat after I let the stuff dry. I'm worried enough that I'm thinking I'll just trace a bead outline and carve out a small indentation to hold a bead, which I will epoxy in - I can't really afford to ruin the top of this, given my deadline.

Anyone ever do this? How hard is it to bring the surface flush without screwing up the surrounding wood?



Thanks,

daniel

[Ryan Baker]

In my limited experience with Inlace, you are right to be worried. It is very hard (takes forever) to surface down once it is hard. It would be difficult to keep it flat and not disturb the surrounding wood. When doing a thin, flat inlay, I have had the stuff shrink, warp, and pull right up out of the groove. Deeper and narrower would be better. Are you talking about covering the entire 1.5X5" surface? If so, I definitely wouldn't try it with Inlace. Maybe someone else knows how to make it work.

Other inset stones may work a bit better. If you want to cover the whole top, I would suggest looking for a slab piece of suitable stone that you could cut to fit and just lay over the top.

[daniel lane]

Ryan,

Thanks for your reply. Definitely note looking to cover the whole thing, which is why I'm worried! I want to put a turquoise highlight in the lid and was thinking of routing or carving out a small pattern, then filling it with the inlace. In case that's not a good idea, I was thinking of just carving out for a round stone and gluing that in, but I've discovered that the 16mm round pieces I bought are not actually 16mm! Now I'm trying to figure out how to get a good, tight fit around an off-sized piece of turquoise and thinking that inlace would be better... :rolleyes:


daniel

[john bateman]

I'm not sure this pertains to your issue...but when I've used Inlace, I first print the pattern onto an Avery label. Then peel and stick the label to the wood.
After routing out the aea to be filled, I apply the Inlace while the label is still on the wood.

When it's time to level, the paper label protects the surrounding area. When the label starts to abrade away from sanding, I use some water to remove the label, then just a few more swipes with a small sanding block to get the Inlace level with the wood.

[daniel lane]

I'm not sure this pertains to your issue...but when I've used Inlace, I first print the pattern onto an Avery label. Then peel and stick the label to the wood.
After routing out the aea to be filled, I apply the Inlace while the label is still on the wood.

When it's time to level, the paper label protects the surrounding area. When the label starts to abrade away from sanding, I use some water to remove the label, then just a few more swipes with a small sanding block to get the Inlace level with the wood.

John,

That's a great idea, and is definitely applicable to one of the options I'm considering. I think I'll wind up using a whole-page label and cutting it down to protect the entire lid, but that's cheap compared to having to redo the thing. Thanks!



daniel

[Ryan Baker]

If you are routing a pattern to fill, you should be fine with inlace ( or a similar filler). That's pretty much what it is meant to do of course. The label idea is a good one. Try not to overfill too much so you won't have so much to remove later. (But keep in mind that Inlace does shrink when it sets, so a little overfilling is needed or it can shrink below the surface in places.) A mesh-based abrasive, like Abranet (I think that was the name), is better for sanding because it won't clog as fast as regular paper. You might try using something like a card scraper on it too.