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The Magic of Inlay |
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The inlay process is not difficult but it does require a steady
hand and persistence. If you enjoy intricate work, you will
love creating inlay.
There are many inlay methods, but I chose to follow a technique
used by guitar makers outlined in the book The Art of Inlay
by Larry Robinson. Each inlay piece is cut separately and pieced
together like a puzzle; it is then glued and inset into the
wood's surface.
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The
bird's mouth support to hold the pieces for sawing |
To
cut inlay, you need a small- to medium-sized fretsaw with a
3/0 size blade. Make a bird's mouth support to hold the pieces
for sawing and clamp it to a worktable at just below your chest
height when sitting. You also need a hand plane to dimension
small pieces of wood. To facilitate the hand-planing process,
use a small flat board with a 1/16" lip to hold thin pieces
of wood. Other essential tools include a craft knife, tweezers,
good task lights and a selection of small files. A small pair
of vise grips will come in handy for holding the wood while
filing tiny inlay pieces. Finally, you need a router or Dremel®
with a router base to rout the inlay recess.
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Outline
of an image of a bobolink prior to numbering each piece |
First
choose a drawing for your pattern. Tape a piece of paper to
a light table or a window and trace the image using a hard 8H
or 9H pencil (sharpen it often for a fine line). Next, trace
a copy of your tracing to clean up the lines. To make your pencil
lines even finer, enlarge your second tracing on a photocopier,
trace it and then shrink it back to the original size. The goal
is to make the pencil lines as fine and clean as possible so
that they are the same size as your saw kerf. Finally, number
each piece and make many photocopies of your master.
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Other Articles from this Issue |
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