Cutting Gauge for string inlay

[Henry Cavanaugh]

I am about to teach myself string inlaying. I plan to purchase a dremel tool and base from steward McDonald for the recesses. I will glue up 1/32" holly and 1/32"some dark wood. I would like to purchase a slicing gauge to cut my strips.Any recommendation to good or bad cutting gauges would be much appreicated. I would also use it for marking dovetail base line instead of my pin marking gauge. Any details besides what I found on FWW 180 would also be helpfull.

[Doug Shepard]

The slickest setup I ever saw for slicing the strips was something Steve Latta demonstrated on an episode of the Woodwrights Shop. Only problem is, making the strips wasn't the main focus of what he was demonstrating. They breezed through it so quick that I missed the details of how he did it. However he did it, it was extremely quick and easy. He had 3-4 strips cut before I even realized what he was doing. Hopefully someone else saw it and can explain it to both of us.

[harry strasil]

I just use an old rosewood verneer slitter I found and then finishing planing to width with a shootboard.

Also I have taped most of the episodes that were shown on our pbs station, but don't have near all of them.

[Steve Wargo]

Spaghetti maker.

[Rob Millard]

Henry,
At one time I used a Delta bench-top bandsaw to rip strips off and inlay blank. Now I use a Starrett .014” x 3/8” blade in my Jet 14” bandsaw. This results in a little bit of waste but it is far easier than using a cutting gauge.
If you decide to go on with the cutting gauge, I’ve found blades that came with the few I have weren’t up to the task, so I made a new one from some 0-1 steel. The small brass LeeValley cutting gauge with its replaceable blades works okay right out of the box. I made a shooting board affair to guide the cutting gauge. The guide has a fence that projects above the base by only about 1/16”. YOu but the edge of the inlay up to this fence and then run the cutting gauge down the outside of the fence. By taking light passes on both sides of the blank you can cut a piece free, as long as the inlay is not too thick ( your 1/16" thick inlay should work well). I usually shoot the edge with a jointer plane after a couple of strips have been cut off.
Rob Millard

[Wendell Wilkerson]

The "shooting board and cutting gauge" setup that Rob described is nearly identical to what Steve Latta used in the Woodwright's Shop episode. Steve also had some cool hand made tools for making the recesses for the stringing. I liked the episode so much I bought the VHS tape of it.

As for the cutting gauge, I can't offer much advice. I have the LV 3-in-1 gauge. While I like it for marking, I think it would be too small for what you want to do. I would look into making one or save my pennies for one of these:

Colen Clenton Cutting Gauge (http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/Merchant/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=toolshop&Product_Code=MS-CCGU.XX&Category_Code=TMM)

Wendell

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Henry

Below is a link with details to a cutting gauge I recently made. I like this design since it can mark/cut lines on both flat/straight and curved edges. Make your own!

Article at:
http://www.wkfinetools.com/tMaking/markingGauge/markingGauge.asp

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Jim Jordan]

I had seen 'plans' or photos about making tools similar to those Steve Latta tools being sold. Would like to make them but the posts are "gone" anyone
have anything on this??

[Dale Cruea]

I found some of the stringing projects from Steve Latta in FWW magazines.
The first is Nov/Dec 2005 where he made a Federal card table. This shows how he cut the slots on the legs.
The other one is Feb 2008 where he built his wife a spice box. He did some inlay on the door. This shows the tools he used and a picture or 2 of the slicer and sizing scraper.

[Jack Curtis]

I had seen 'plans' or photos about making tools similar to those Steve Latta tools being sold. Would like to make them but the posts are "gone" anyone
have anything on this??

Latta did one or two Woodwright's Show visits demonstrating his techniques which also showed his home made tools; so I'd check that out at http://www.pbs.org/woodwrightsshop/schedule/video.html. Also, he's made a couple of videos that are sold at LN, which also show the tools.

Jack

[Philip Berman]

http://woodtreks.com/making-and-applying-decorative-string-inlay-woodworking/477/

I watched this video and then made the stringing cutter described. Worked great, success on the first try having never done stringing before.

Philip

[Jim Koepke]

Hi Henry

Below is a link with details to a cutting gauge I recently made. I like this design since it can mark/cut lines on both flat/straight and curved edges. Make your own!

Article at:
http://www.wkfinetools.com/tMaking/markingGauge/markingGauge.asp

Regards from Perth

Derek

The link didn't work for me.

Lie-Nielsen sells the Steve Latta DVDs and also has the tools for sell. Seems like another place to start to see how to begin.

jtk

[Derek Cohen]

Him Jim

That link was nearly 6 years old, from a time before my current website. I subsequently copied the information over. The quality is not as good as it could be, but this link works:

http://inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/A%20Marking%20and%20Cutting%20Gauge.html

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Marking%20and%20Measuring/Marking-cuttinggauge2.jpg

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Martin Peek]

I took Steve's class. He used a precursor to the LN slicing gauge. He also uses a setup where you lay the veneer on a board against a very long, low fence (1/8 or so) to use as a guide for slicing. I am able to get very consistent strips with this. I don't have his video, but I'd imagine it covers the method.
Japanese slicing gauges also work (wari-kebiki), which is what I use.

[Tony Shea]

Derek,

I love that style of cutting gauge (aesthetically anyway) and have been thinking about picking one up. Bridge City I thought used to make a nice similar version. But after seeing your post I am inspired to make my own.

So do you still use this guage of yours? I did notice that your original post was from 2006. What steps did you take to grind the spade bit for the blade? Did you anneal it first or just grind carefully and not bother to re heat treat it?

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Tony

I do still use this gauge, but reserve it mostly for curved work.

If I built it over I would make two changes. the first one is the blade. You can use a spade bit, especially one that is HSS - no need to worry about heat treating or loss of temper when grinding. However, there is a simpler method - use a HSS drill bit (as I have in this panel gauge) ...

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Marking%20and%20Measuring/Panel%20Gauge/PanelGauge3.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Marking%20and%20Measuring/Panel%20Gauge/PanelGauge6.jpg

The other change would be to add mortice in which the beam can run instead of the tenon I used. The tenon works, but the mortice would be better.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Bill Berklich]

Him Jim

That link was nearly 6 years old, from a time before my current website. I subsequently copied the information over. The quality is not as good as it could be, but this link works:

http://inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/A%20Marking%20and%20Cutting%20Gauge.html

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Marking%20and%20Measuring/Marking-cuttinggauge2.jpg

Regards from Perth

Derek


Beautiful work

[Mike Allen1010]

I am about to teach myself string inlaying. I plan to purchase a dremel tool and base from steward McDonald for the recesses. I will glue up 1/32" holly and 1/32"some dark wood. I would like to purchase a slicing gauge to cut my strips.Any recommendation to good or bad cutting gauges would be much appreicated. I would also use it for marking dovetail base line instead of my pin marking gauge. Any details besides what I found on FWW 180 would also be helpfull.

Hi Henry,


Great question – the hardest part of string inlay is creating stringing of consistent width that fits into the groove your cutting.


The Dremel base from Stuart McDonald, with a fence is an excellent investment (I think LV also sells one). With the appropriate diameter bits you can cut the groove for stringing in a single pass with relatively little risk of imperfections. I also have the LV hand tool inlay grouping cutter. IMHO it works best for curves. For straight grooves parallel to the outer edge of a panel, draw a router with offense is way easier.


More important question of how you get the correct width stringing; I've tried using the LV cutting gauge along with what can best be described as a "tiny shooting board", as described in various articles to hold the stock still and established a uniform difference between the blade of the cutting gauge and the reference fence.


I have to confess this doesn't work very well for me. Trying to slice off a tiny piece of inlay material to a consistent width of 1/32" for example is futile.


Instead use the slicing gauge or bandsaw for that matter to saw inlay material to a reasonable height. My experience is you need to sneak up on the correct width using a thickness scraper (and occasionally some sandpaper) – I believe both LN and LV offer versions. I'm too lazy to go take a picture of my set up, but you should be able to find something on the appropriate catalogs.

[Jason Dean]

I've never done inlay work myself, but I did happen upon an interesting jig for thicknessing the strips:
370806
http://www.philadelphiafurnitureworkshop.com/view/show/Makingstringinlaywoodworkingclass.htm

I'd be interested to hear comments from those who are experienced.