Replies

1. 
   D_Cameron | Oct 02, 2001 04:25pm | #1

   *
   I am new to inlay as well. I am trying to make a deer paw print template, no use in looking for that off-the-shelf. What I came up with is to cut an exact size "positive" and then trace around it using a pencil put in the hole of a washer whose rim is the same size as the collar of the inlay router template. Then using a coping saw to cut out the "negative" in the template stock. I'll let you know how it turns out.

1. 
   Rob_Millard | Oct 03, 2001 02:04pm | #2

   *I specialize in reproducing American Furniture from the Federal Period. I make all of my own inlays, stringing, and bandings. These vary from simple shaped pieces, pictorial inlays (marquetry) to complex bandings. From your question, I don’t understand what you want to make. If you can get it through my thick head what you want, I’m sure I can help. I have attached a photo of a banding I just completed for a reproduction card table. This banding is 3/8” thick, about 2 feet long and 2 inches wide. I will saw it into 1/16” bands and inlay these into the edge of the top. While this banding looks to be somewhat difficult to make, it is actually quite easy, although it’s not easy to describe the process; I will give it a try, if this would interest you.

1. 
   Rich_Klein | Oct 03, 2001 03:24pm | #3

   *Rob -I would very much lke to hear how you make your diamond inlay.Thanks in advance!Rich

1. 
   MTB | Oct 03, 2001 03:29pm | #4

   *Thank you Rob. That is exactly what I was interested in. I did however find a book that was helpful. The book was pretty crude but it got me started and I have been able to produce some pretty neat bandings, including one that is very similar to the one on your picture. I do however have a new question. That you can probably answer. I am really enjoying making the bandings, but I need some kind of press to speed the process up and to give me better results. I am not making huge sheets of the stuff. The longest strip I might make would be 24 inches most in the 12 inch range. Any suggestions on an economical press to help me with this.Thank you

1. 
   MTB | Oct 03, 2001 03:59pm | #5

   *Rich,I can try to describe it for you. As Rob said it is a little hard to explain, but I will give it a shot.Take 2 boards of contrasting color say walnut and maple. Lets assume we want the diamond to be the maple and the walnut surrounding it. You can decide on what ever size you want but lets say we start with 1/4". Take your maple board and cut it into strips that are 1/4" x 1'4". Then take your walnut board and cut it into pieces that are 1/4" x 1/4" + the kerf in your saw blade. In my case I ended up with a piece that was 1'4" x 3/8". Now glue these pieces together alternating strips one walnut one maple and so on. Make sure that the 1/4' sides match up top to bottom. Once you have this glued up and it is dry, set your table saw blade at a 45 degree angle and cut through the walnut pieces of the board corner to corner. If you made your measurements correctly you should not cut into the maple at all. The pieces will kind of naturally fall and the 45 degree angle you just cut will become the bottom of the inlay. Now the hard part is gluing all of those pieces back up with that new 45 degree angle on the bottom. After that you can laminate what ever additional veneer you want on the top and the bottom. The picture Rob sent, I believe was a little more complex than what I have described as i believe he has the diamond wrapped in the edge grain of the surrounding wood, which gives a real nice effect. That is not hard to do either. It is a few more glue ups. In this case you would laminate 2 maple boards with thin strips of walnut on both sides after they are dry you would cut them into the strips of equal size, then flip one 90 degrees and glue them up and then start with the instructions above and treat the newly glued up board as your maple board. Make sure you do your math and you measure the finished thickness of this board and you allow for the saw kerf in your next piece or it will not come out right. Once this piece is done cut your second board ( again allowing for the saw kerf) and follow the steps above I hope this was not too confusing. If it is maybe someone else can add there 2 cents to clear it up. Another cool thin you can do is laminate a different colored board on the bottom of the 2 baords after they are glued up but before you make the 45 degree cut. It makes a real cool ribbon pattern.

2. 
   Rich_Klein | Oct 03, 2001 04:09pm | #6

   *MTB-Thanks for the explainationRich

3. 
   Rob_Millard | Oct 06, 2001 01:03am | #7

   *Here is how I made the diamond banding, shown in my previous posting. All dimensions given relate to my banding, which was a total of 3/8” thick, by 2 inches wide. I usually make my bandings about 2 inches wide, because this provides plenty of material to work with, but is not so wide that it is difficult to maintain precision. Precision is the name of the game here, I use dial calipers to measure my stock, and I try to stay with in .010”. For the period furniture I make, slight variations, are not a problem, and even enhance to look, but the eye can pick up even small deviations. Start with 2 pieces of contrasting wood, in my case satinwood and mahogany that are ¼’ thick by 2” wide, by as long as your banding needs to be, glued side by side. Then using a router bit that cuts a vee groove (in my case 120 deg.) route across the pieces with the bit set at exactly one half the thickness of the stock, using the jig shown in the photo attached below. This jig guides the router and indexes the spacing. The router bit may leave a small flat at the bottom of the groove, so remove this with a very sharp vee gouge. After you have routed the full length of your inlay, saw the piece apart at the glued joint, and glue them face to face, in a manner like closing a book. In this closing the book part it is important, to keep them in the same orientation as they were routed, otherwise they may not index together properly. I do my glue ups between 2 boards covered with packing tape, and PLENTY of clamps. When dry, plane off the mahogany until you see the peaks of the satinwood show, do this carefully; you don’t want to remove any of the satinwood. Now edge glue a piece of ¼” thick mahogany to the piece of stock from the previous step. Route another series of vee grooves in this, making sure to align the valleys precisely. Glue together as before. Again plane off the mahogany until you see the peaks of the satinwood. The result will be satinwood diamonds with mahogany triangles in between. I glued a layer each, of 1/32” satinwood and ebony on the faces of the diamond, to complete the band. I will attach another photo showing the jig in use

4. 
   Rob_Millard | Oct 06, 2001 01:07am | #8

   *Here is a photo of the jig in use. I hope this helps.