I'm trying to figure out how to stain inlaid QS white oak without discoloring the inlay. Found a FWW article that suggests coating inlays with shellac with a very fine brush; tried it - very slow going and can see all imperfections wrt hand painting a 1/16" wide stripe. Is here some way to prefinish the inlay so it doesn't pick up dye and stain, even after scraping? If I stain the wood and then cut inlays, I seem to scrape through occasionally, but refinishing planed-through spots seems easier than hand-painting shellac over longnarrow inlay strips. Right now I'm messing with plastic 'fake ivory' and although it's tough to cut, doesn't seem to pick up dye and stain the way holly or birch do.
All suggestions on how to do this would be welcome. Thanks in advance.