Help on inlay work.....

[Dennis Peacock]

I am looking for resources to help me learn about doing wood inlay for furniture projects. Does anyone here have any experience with inlay or have resources that I could check into to learn more about inlay work? Some are already aware of the project I have to work on now and have a good bit of inlay work to do on it and I need pointers, resources, ideas and techniques for doing the inlay work. All ideas, pointers and resources will be greatly appreciated.

[Ed Falis]

Bill Hylton's Woodworking with the Router has the basic info on doing (template-based) inlays with a router. Sure that's not all you want, but it's a start.

- Ed

[Keith Outten]

Dennis,

I know a guy who owns a Laser Engraver and he can precision cut inlay material and produce an acrylic router template from the same drawing within +- 0.004 of an inch :)

The Ultimate Inlay Machine

[Gary Helsel]

Try woodworking-ideas.com. This web site shows step-by-step how to make templates and cut inlays using a very reasonably priced brass inlay kit that works on your router.

Gary Helsel

[Jim Dunn]

Dennis, I did this just playing around with a new template I bought from MCLS?, I think that's the name of the company. I am using the Whitesides brass inlay kit with a 1/4 shank 1/8" down cut bit. If I can do it you can too. My skills lay mostly in thinking about new machinery and fishing. I can catch fish!:)

Just remembered something that had me stumped at first. The collet that came with the kit didn't line up with the center of the router motor. Called Whiteside and Porter Cable and discovered that the base for the router should have cap screws instead of tapered head ones. Whith the pan head screws you can center the collet with the motor centerline by tightening the screws on the base last.

Jim

[Alan Turner]

Dennis,
When I do this work, which is not often, I cut the inlay first, then trace around it with a sharp marking knife. Waste most of the wood with a small router, just handheld, working slowly and carefully, to a depth slightly less than the thickness of that which is to be inlaid, and finish to the cut line with a chisel or carving tools (on curved sections). Pretty quick and low tech, but has worked well for me. Take the excess height down with a plane or scraper so you don't get any staining from differing woods, such as paduak, etc.

I use this same method for structural dutchmen, but if I have several to do, then I cut a piece of 6mm BB as a pattern, and use a router with a guide bushing. The offset of the pattern caused by the distance from the bit to the outside of the collar is enough, and so then you can finish with a chisel directly in the cut line form the marking. Tidy and fast. I usually keep these patterns, and make extras of the butterflys.

[Doug Shepard]

I pretty much do the same method as Alan, but for stuff on the small scale of inlay work I prefer to use a laminate trimmer instead of a router. I just find it easier to use and control on small areas. If you go freehand, I'd also suggest you get a foot controlled on/off switch. It will let you keep both hands on the router/trimmer for better control.

[Rob Millard]

Dennis,

I do quite a bit of inlay work, so I may be able to answer some questions. Unfortunately there are not many books on the subject. I have attached a photo of a sideboard I made several years ago, that probably had the most extensive inlay of any piece I’ve made. I make my own inlays to have them look like those of the period. Right now I’m working on a website article for my homepage, describing the construction of a inlaid tea chest. I should have this ready to post by a week from Sunday.
Rob Millard

[Jim Becker]

I'm looking forward to the advise given to Dennis on this subject...

[Barry O'Mahony]

If you use the router template kits, here is some fine points I've learned from experience:

-- I changed from the spiral upcut that came with my Freud kit to a Freud spiral downcut. It left a much smoother edge, with no tearout when routing across the grain. The only tricky part was that when you plunge the bit into the wood, make sure that the bit is moving, so that the routed out waste has somewhere to go. If you plunge it into the piece first, and then start moving the router along the template, you will likely have an enlarged hole in the wood right where you first plunged it in, as the waste wood has no where to go and expands the hole slightly.

-- Some of these kits come with a centering aid, to make sure the bit was centered in the guide hole. I found that the bit diameter and the guide bearing I.D. were close enough that it is easy to "eyeball" the alignment very well.

-- I first routed out the design on a piece of scrap baltic birch plywood. I drilled holes in this, so that I could push the inlay pieces back out with some nails from the other side.

-- I then routed out the inlay pieces themselves. Initially I had alot of trouble with pieces carpet-taped to a substrate. The tape was so flexible the parts would "wiggle" a bit, and come out the wrong size. Eventually I just routed them on a thick piece of walnut, and cut them off by resawing on a table saw (I could have used a bandsaw as well). Blue tape across the face kept the pieces in place after they were cut from the substrate, and prevented them from falling against the blade and getting chewed up, or flying away. I've also heard gluing the inlay wood to the substrate with a piece of paper inbetween works well, too. The paper makes it possible to separate the inlay from the substrate.

-- These pieces were tested on the plywood substrate, and re-done if they turned out to be loose, or otherwise screwed up. If they turned out too tight, I just assumed I had routed the scrap substrate to small, and kept the piece for final assembly.

-- I then routed out the pattern on the real substrate material, and carefully test-fit each piece. Sometimes a piece was a little too tight, and re-routing the substrate with a bit more sideways pressure on the template would get it to fit.

-- A cabinet scraper is the best tool for levelling everything flush. The pieces should be thick enough to sit ever-so-slightly above the surface when they are first glued in place.

Design

Here's the inlay I did on the still-under-construction tack box for my daughter. It's unfinished in this picture:

http://www.coyotecreekranch.com/woodworking/tack_box/horse_inlay_2.JPG

I made the template from a piece of clip art in the Microsoft online clip art gallery. There's alot to choose from, and the copyright licensing terms are surprisingly liberal (basically, you can use a drawing for anything for free, other than including it for sale in your own clip art collection).

Using the standard drawing edit capabilities in Word, I enlarged the drawing to the size I wanted, and then Ungroup'd the drawing to break it into constituent pieces. Each shape that made up the drawing then had its line width increased to 40.5 points (9/16"), in order enlarge it per the router kit's instructions. It is very important that the radius on all inner curves of the template be large enough so that the bushing will fit in them. Using this line width enusres that.

Three separate template were actually needed, as some of the individual pieces were too close together, and some overlapped the others. The attached "red", "green" and "blue" files were the templates. The "red" and "blue" templates were routed first, and the inlay installed. After scraping those flush, I then routed the "green" template.

The template material I used was 1/4" Melamine, with an MDF core and laminated both sides.

A key limitation of the router template method is the diameter of the bit (1/8") precludes really sharpe points on the design, but it does allow you to do nice-looking work fairly quickly.

horse_template_doc (http://www.coyotecreekranch.com/woodworking/tack_box/horsebig3.doc)
horse_template_blue (http://www.coyotecreekranch.com/woodworking/tack_box/horsebig3blue.doc)
horse_template_green (http://www.coyotecreekranch.com/woodworking/tack_box/horsebig3green.doc)
horse_template_red (http://www.coyotecreekranch.com/woodworking/tack_box/horsebig3red.doc)

[tod evans]

dennis, this is my favorite isbn#0-942391-19-5 pierre ramond`s marquetry. a real treasure trove!! tod

[Rob Millard]

Dennis,

I finished the web page on inlaying a small tea chest, if you'd like to take a look it is at http://home.woh.rr.com/federalfurniture/
Rob Millard

[Zahid Naqvi]

Dennis,

I finished the web page on inlaying a small tea chest, if you'd like to take a look it is at http://home.woh.rr.com/federalfurniture/
Rob Millard

Rob, I too was eagerly awaiting your reply. I have some interest in inlay work myself. That was a wonderful tutorial you posted on your site.

[Zahid Naqvi]

Hey Dennis, I did a little search on the central arkansas library system's on-line catalog and they have a few books on inlay. If you like I can get some of these and comail them to you for some light reading while you recover from your back strain. Perhaps someone can chime in about how good or bad these books are.

http://vera.cals.lib.ar.us/search/Yinlay&searchscope=3&SORT=A/Yinlay&searchscope=3&SORT=A&extended=0/1%2C6%2C6%2CB/frameset&FF=Yinlay&searchscope=3&SORT=A&3%2C3%2C
http://syndetics.com/index.aspx?isbn=0879308354/LC.JPG&client=calsp&type=hw7
http://vera.cals.lib.ar.us/search/Yinlay&searchscope=3&SORT=A/Yinlay&searchscope=3&SORT=A&extended=0/1%2C6%2C6%2CB/frameset&FF=Yinlay&searchscope=3&SORT=A&5%2C5%2C
http://vera.cals.lib.ar.us/search/Yinlay&searchscope=3&SORT=A/Yinlay&searchscope=3&SORT=A&extended=0/1%2C6%2C6%2CB/frameset&FF=Yinlay&searchscope=3&SORT=A&6%2C6%2C

[John S Richards]

I have a free inlay router method how to on my website. Template works is ok, but you can't do fine enough detail for me. To get the nice detail you have to go freehand.

http://www.jsrwoodworking.com/images/2004-10-4/10-4-uppercab.jpg

http://www.jsrwoodworking.com/Inlaydemo.htm

Good Luck,

John

[John S Richards]

I love the federal period inlay work. Really sweet!