Inlay Brass Strips

[Tim Bridge]

How would you go about cutting slots in walnut for inlay if 1mm wide brass strips.

Would you use a router or saw?
Ins there a 1mm router bit or saw blade?

Router plane?

[Mel Fulks]

A shop made wooden scribe fitted with a shop made steel cutter that is back beveled on both sides and bottom.

[Jim Becker]

Yes, there are 1mm router bits available, but they are generally more pointed at the CNC side of things rather than hand-held work. They could be used with a small trim router as long as you can accommodate an appropriate chuck for the cutter. Amana, for example has a 1mm flat bottom end mill with a 1/8" shank available. You'd need either a 1/8" collet for your router or a 1/8" collet bushing for a 1/4" collet to use this bit. But you may find this fine of a bit pretty tricky to use with a hand-held machine...they are touchy even with a carefully controlled CNC machine.

A router plane might be the better choice if you can come up with the right combination to to the job.

[Jim Morgan]

1 mm = .03937". Lee Valley offers a 0.040" down cut spiral bit for a dremel. They also have a 0.040" groove cutter for inlay.

[Gary Ragatz]

1 mm = .03937". Lee Valley offers a 0.040" down cut spiral bit for a dremel. They also have a 0.040" groove cutter for inlay.

I think they also have a plunge base for a Dremel, along with a fence, etc.

[Peter Christensen]

A string inlay tool would normally be the way to cut such narrow grooves.
http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=69874&cat=1,43314,69873

[Jim Tobias]

+1 on what Peter said.

It pretty easy that way.

Jim

[roger wiegand]

I use carbide end mills that are discarded from the electronics industry for all my inlay work-- they are cheap on ebay and have plenty of life left in them for cutting wood. They range from 3-4mm and smaller. I'd use a bit about 3/4 the width of the cut I want and make the groove in two passes, running the router base against a straightedge or curved template for an exact fit and clean edges on both sides.

I have a small router base from Stewart-Macdonald (https://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools/Types_of_Tools/Routers_and_Bits/Routers/Precision_Router_Base.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=shopping&utm_campaign=2018-09-gp&gclid=CjwKCAjwrNjcBRA3EiwAIIOvq1up7YIRWIFJHf-tesHR2q1tNgDHfdIIuoI6YWjeEmpbmQ3K33juJhoCgaMQAvD_B wE) that holds the handpiece of my Foredom tool.

So far I have utterly failed mastering getting a clean-edged groove with a scratch stock or similar tool. Haven't tried the Lee Valley one yet.