Garrett Hack uses stringing in his furniture to add interest and to draw the eye, often along the edge of a leg or tabletop. But he also uses stringing to unify elements within a piece, like the quarter-circle fans he inlaid into a small tabletop (see New Spin on Fan Inlays, FWW #204).

Made from contrasting holly and ebony, the fans add visual excitement to an otherwise plain top. To tie each fan to the other, as well as to tie the fans to the inlaid panels in the front legs, Hack used a segmented string of holly and ebony.

Installing this type of stringing is pretty straightforward. Use a scratch stock to cut a tapered mortise into the top, slice the string to width and length, and glue the segments into the mortise. For more on the technique, watch the accompanying video and/or read the article String Inlay from FWW #116.

Segments go in before the larger string. Cut the segments to length (left) and glue them into the mortise (right). Click on the images above to enlarge.

Install the long string. After cutting  the longer segment to length, glue it into the mortise.

Photos: Thomas McKenna

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