Filling-in / sanding back over a mother of pearl inlay

[Wal]

Hello all,

Hopefully this isn't too dumb a first post, thanks for reading.

I've recently become interested in wood/metal/practical work and have not long completed a nice little test project - cutting out an inlay in mother of pearl.

I used my home-built CNC mill and it was originally intended for use on a guitar fretboard. Due to a small fracture across the face of the MOP along with the work slipping a bit on the final pass, it's destined to become an ornamental reminder of what can go wrong. It's still a reasonable looking piece and I'd like to mount it in a small chunk of (ethically sourced) African Blackwood I bought especially for this purpose.

The idea is to pocket the Blackwood with the shape of the inlay and then epoxy the inlay into place. As you can see on the picture - the inlay has a relief of its own and once glued in I was hoping to use the same epoxy to fill in the relief, let it dry hard and then sand back over it to reveal the inlay. My questions are as follows - although all advice on how best to mount this is welcome:

Should I use a dye with a clear 2-pack epoxy, or should I use wood dust taken from sandings?
Once sanded back - what would be the best way to give the Blackwood back a shiny Rosewood depth?

Thanks for your time and advice.

Wal.

 

[marcros]

i will be interested to see this project. I am about to inlay some fret dots from mother of pearl into a jewellery box. I also have some similar dots to but from blackwood and yew.

 

[Wal]

>i will be interested to see this project.

Same here Marcros - just need to work out a way of doing it!

Wal.

 

[mrpercysnodgrass]

Firstly you will need to seal the fracture in your MOP to stop any dirt getting into it. I would use some epoxy mixed with a little Titanium White, work it into the fracture and when dry sand it off. For filling I would use both fine dust from your blackwood and mix some earth pigment into the epoxy. To finish you will need to use White Polish, it is the only shellac that will not discolour you MOP. You can use a different shellac to finish or indeed just about anything as when your finish has hardened it is quite easy to scrape the finish off the MOP. Scaping the finish off the MOP has the advantage of showing off the natural luster as even White Polish dulls it down a little.

 

[Harbo]

I'm sure epoxy would be fine.
I've never dyed epoxy but have used wood dust with it a number of times to carry out repairs etc - it works well.

I don't understand your query about "Rosewood depth", but if you mean finish - I have used thin coatings of shellac followed by wax on Blackwood in the past.

Rod

 

[Wal]

Thanks guys.

I'll give it a go (over the coming weeks) and post results.

Harbo, yes sorry, I meant finish.

Wal.

 

[Spindle]

Hi Wal

Nice work and website =D>

Where would you suggest I start researching into DIY CNC?

Regards Mick

 

[Wal]

Hi Mick,

I used http://www.mycncuk.com to research the particulars of my build. There are some pretty clever and helpful folk over on that site. I also had the benefit of being able to jib down the road to have a look at a fellow builders project. Really helps to get your head around the whole process seeing a machine in the flesh, as it were.

I'm not going to say that it's an easy/cheap build- there's a lot of info you need to absorb - but I have next to no engineering experience and managed it. Took months of research and procrastination, but it's do-able and unbelievably rewarding when you can repeat position a cutter to within 0.05mm. Probably better, but I'm not going to make claims..!

Good luck with it, maybe see you over on mycncuk.

Wal.