Inlay question?

[jonathan snyder]

Hi Folks
I'm not sure if this is a good idea or not, so I seek your collective wisdom.

I'm making a wall plaque for the weather vane from my Great Great Grandfathers barn. I'm using a walnut slab and would like to inlay a piece of curly maple with some text laser engraved on it.

I currently have a 3" wide by 7" long piece of maple which I re-sawed and hand planed to 3/16". Is this too thick to inlay? Do I need to worry about wood movement? I have never tried any inlay work. The laser folks tell me the maple should be at least 1/8" thick.

Any thoughts?

Thanks
Jonathan

[James Phillips]

Be sure the grain in both pieces runs the same direction and you will likely not have any problems. I would go a little thinner if it were me just to be safe, but probably not necessary

[Doug Shepard]

One thing to keep in mind on the thickness. You want to leave it proud and level it to the field once it's glued in. Trying to get an exact cavity match is risky and could mean your inlay ends up sitting low. So even if you start off thicker than you'd otherwise like for lasering reasons, you want to mow it down flush later anyway. There's no reason you cant still end up with even 1/16" or so. A drum or widebelt sander excels at this kind of thing, but hand planes, scrapers, routers, belt or RO sanders would all get you flush.

[Nancy Laird]

But Doug, if you try to sand, plane, or scrape an engraved piece to bring it to level, you will sand, plane, or scrape the engraving off of it and ruin the piece, since the engraving doesn't go that deep. Of course the back of the piece could be sanded, planed, or scraped for leveling, but it will also have to be finished to keep moisture out of the piece or it will bow.

Jonathon, the 3/16" piece should be fine.

Nancy (101 days)

[Doug Shepard]

Good point. Thought he was just getting the lettering cut out with a laser and didn't realize it might be engraved too.

[jonathan snyder]

Thanks folks,

I need to thing about this a bit more. My original plan was cut the maple, shellac it with blond shellac, and get it laser engraved. I then planed to finish the walnut with dark garnet shellac, and inlay the maple. Getting the inlay perfectly level without planing it will be quite difficult, as you pointed out. I guess I'm going to have to inlay the maple, level, it, then shellac, then have it engraved. Maybe I can tape off the maple while I put the dark garnet on the walnut and visa versa.

Thanks for your wisdom.

Jonathan

[Doug Shepard]

I've never personally had to di it this way - only read about it, but maybe this could work. Cut the cavity just a hair deeper than your inlay thickness. Drill several holes all the way through the cavity so that you can push the inlay out with dowels when you test fit the depth. Then mix up some thick epoxy (dyed to match your walnut) and spread it in the cavity. Place the inlay in the cavity and seat it into the bed of epoxy, gently tapping it down until it's flush. The excess epoxy will squeeze up around the inlay edges and out the holes in the back. If you go too far, gently push back up from the back with the dowels and tape them into place to hold it at that height until the glue sets. Tape any holes off that dont need dowels then come back later with some matching plugs to fill the dowel holes.

[Bruce Volden]

How about inlay / finish all the woodwork and then "burn" the oval?? Engravers prefer the finished piece to burn :D :D

Bruce

[joe greiner]

I've never personally had to di it this way - only read about it, but maybe this could work. Cut the cavity just a hair deeper than your inlay thickness. Drill several holes all the way through the cavity so that you can push the inlay out with dowels when you test fit the depth. Then mix up some thick epoxy (dyed to match your walnut) and spread it in the cavity. Place the inlay in the cavity and seat it into the bed of epoxy, gently tapping it down until it's flush. The excess epoxy will squeeze up around the inlay edges and out the holes in the back. If you go too far, gently push back up from the back with the dowels and tape them into place to hold it at that height until the glue sets. Tape any holes off that dont need dowels then come back later with some matching plugs to fill the dowel holes.

Holes in the back also allow entrapped air to escape while placing the inlay. Otherwise, the compressed air will push back as you insert the inlay until the epoxy (or other glue) hardens. Even then, the air pressure will create a permanent load on the inlay which could lead to later failure. For the same reason, I'd avoid plugging the holes; or if desired, cut a longitudinal vent slot in the dowel and insert only enough to secure it.

Joe

[john bateman]

Thanks folks,

I need to thing about this a bit more. My original plan was cut the maple, shellac it with blond shellac, and get it laser engraved. I then planed to finish the walnut with dark garnet shellac, and inlay the maple. Getting the inlay perfectly level without planing it will be quite difficult, as you pointed out. I guess I'm going to have to inlay the maple, level, it, then shellac, then have it engraved. Maybe I can tape off the maple while I put the dark garnet on the walnut and visa versa.

Thanks for your wisdom.

Jonathan

If you go to some of the laser-engraving-on-wood websites you will see that they offer pre-finished plaques which they engrave with your choice of artwork. You won't want to be doing any thing to it after that, as the engraving is only a few thousandths deep. Finish your item, then take it to the engraver.

I almost went that route, but decided to try doing it by hand. After completing the inlaid panel and surrounding it with bubinga, I masked the bubinga so I could dye the maple. Worked out OK in the end.
http://members.verizon.net/~pecker/jbox/003small.jpg