router inlay

[Austin Dienner]

i just ordered a new router inlay kit and i was wondering if anybody had any general tips for me about this kit. Also how tight of a curve can i get with one of these? Would i be able to do something like a leaf? If i just cut the recess with the router, what is the best way to get a piece that fits exactly into that recess? (i dont have a scroll saw but i do have a band saw)

[harry strasil]

dut the inlay piece first then trace around ti with a very sharp knife sharpened like a chisel flat on one side the bevel on the other. This also cuts the top fibers so you don't have chip out and its relatively easy to deepen the knife cut carefully, I use a magnifier for deepening. I made a dovestail shaped knife for marking, so I would have right and left capabilities, lower one in the picture.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/wood/markingknives2.jpg

[Guy Germaine]

I do these with the inlay kit:
http://www.fototime.com/5531F83E45CD035/standard.jpg

In order to get the shape right, I cut my pattern from a picture that I found. I then took the busing offthe inlay kit, stuck my pencil in it, and traced around the inside of my pattern. I found that the "finished" product did not look the way I wanted, so I cut and sanded the pattern, re-traced with the pencil/bushing until I got it to look like I wanted. I'm sure you can do the same thing with a leaf.

[Mike Shoemaker]

Just out of curiosity. What inlay kit did you get?

[Jamie Buxton]

If you've bought one of the template-guide router things -- the kind with a template guide plus a bushing -- you're cutting with a 1/8th router bit. That means the inlay can't have any parts narrower than 1/8th, and you can't have a radius at the edge smaller than the bit's 1/16".

[Guy Germaine]

Just out of curiosity. What inlay kit did you get?

It's been over a year, but I'm pretty sure I bought mine from Hartville Tool (http://www.hartvilletool.com/product/11208)