Inlay

[edmund]

Inlay questions for you all. I'm planning on doing some inlay work on my next project. The inlay will be into a solid substrate (i.e. not banding or stringing with veneer work). So,
1. Is there an ideal thickness or minimum thinness for the inlay?
2. I've seen marquetry supplier supply "square" lines. Where the line is say 3.4mm - does this mean 3.4mm by 3.4mm (sorry this may sound a bit dim)? Only reason I ask is that lines for stringing are typically stated to be about 1mm thick.
3. Presume you can always make it yourself.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
Edmund

 

[jasonB]

Square lines are as you say "square" they can be used as stringing and edging like on thisbox although I did cut these myself.

I would aim to make your inlays 2-3mm thick that way they will be less likely to brake and are easire to produce on the tablesaw or bandsaw. The only think to watch is that if they are very narrow the depth should be reduced as there is less likelyhood of snapping a fine router cutter.

Jason

 

[Chris Knight]

This is a scraper I used for thicknessing stringing when I did a veneering course with Bruce Luckhurst. It's basically a broken spokeshave welded to a bit of angle iron. It worked very well to reduce the thickness of square stinging to whatever was needed.

 

[Shady]

Chris - 'Mr Thicky' here - can you expand on that picture? I can't quite grasp what I'm looking at: is it the classic 'drag the stringing through the tool' setup? Always wanted to get more into that area...

 

[Chris Knight]

Shady,

Yes, that is it exactly. Just set the cutter to a suitable depth that scrapes the stringing without tearing it and pull it through, repeat as needed. In practice it only takes a minute or two to thickness a few metre lengths. You might need to shave the first bit to get it under the cutter to grab hold of it.

 

[Shady]

Gotcha - thanks: looking at it, it looks as though you've either closed it down, or were producing some 'invisibly thin' stringing - that's what threw me - or am I just going blind??

 

[Chris Knight]

Shady,
I think it's just the way the picture was taken. IIRC it was 1.3mm stuff I was making.

 

[Colin C]

You can also do a it on wood and put a small curve on the lead edge of the blade to help get your stringing in.
If that makes sence