inlaying copper

[woodaxed]

I hope someone can help im inlaying fine copper into ash im getting the knack of that my problem is after ive filed it almost flush
i then have to sand it to a shine the fine copper dust is getting into the grain im brushing as i go but still getting it happen would sanding sealer
stop this from happening or something else

 

[rafezetter]

are you sanding just to get the copper to a lustre or the whole piece? you might be better off shining up the copper first; mount with double sided tape onto a block and use a polishing wheel - I use a simple one like this mounted in a corded drill clamped to a bench:

http://www.metalpolishingsupplies.c...kit-4-x-1-2/?gclid=CPDbnov28bsCFWTnwgod6jwAyw

just make sure you get a kit for aluminium / copper as the abrasives are less aggressive - or simple cream metal polish will work depending on how far you want to take the shine.

a tip: polish the metal with the wheel going "away" rather than "towards" from the edge or it'll chew up the cloth mop, you can turn the metal any which way as there's no "grain" to follow.

 

[woodaxed]

its just to give the copper a shine but the copper has to be in the wood its too fine to shine and then fit

 

[rafezetter]

its just to give the copper a shine but the copper has to be in the wood its too fine to shine and then fit

I've used this technique to shine aluminium sheet from coke cans without issue, however if the wood was properly protected and sealed it might be ok to try it. do a test with some offcut and a bit of copper.

Also a thought...could you back the copper with something stiffer, like a bit of thin ply or something, shine then fit?
or shine a larger section, cut then fit. I cut the aluminium cans with scissors and get a good edge no problem.

Last thought, if you are doing a few of these it might be worth buying a cheap dremal-alike and using the felt pads and some autosol, you can get pretty good accuracy with these, just add some tape to the edges of the surrounding wood.

 

[kjmc1957]

Is this on flat work or on turned work, either way, if you are fixingt he copper powder with thin CA, just mix the CA and the copper powder together before hand on a bit of paper and then use a lollipop stick or anything similar to fill the gap, then sand back when its dry, if you want to put it directly into the timber I would use a couple of coats of sanding sealer first and then INCISE the line to be filled, however it's been my experience that when you put the copper powder into the line and start to use the thin CA it will still 'roll off' the fine powder aand marr the adjacent surface, if this will be an issue, use low tack masking tape as a barrier, fiddily but do able.
The £ shops generally sell a 5 or 6 tube pack of CA which is really thin but works a treat for this sort of application

Good Luck

Kevin

 

[marcus]

It's a really tricky one, and very hard to avoid altogether. Options that I know of are as follows:

1) As has been suggested inlay as best you can, polish before gluing in, and accept a bit of 'texture'. This looks fine with some styles of furniture — Arts and Crafts stuff was often done like this.
2) Try to seal the timber before sanding with some of your finish, or sanding sealer as you suggest. This helps a certain amount, more for fine-grained timbers — with coarse grained timbers the grain will still fill up with the dust and look horrid unless you:-
3) Fill the grain before sanding.

MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL, if you are determined to sand flat, use a scraper (preferably a scraper plane set fine) to smooth off (works fine on soft metals, just like wood) till the surface is perfectly flat, then start with the finest grit you can get away with to finish off. No less than p180 anyway.

 

[marcus]

Oh, forgot to mention the best trick of all, which is to use Abranet for the sanding, with one of their sanding blocks that connects to a vacuum.... This helps loads, though you will still need to take great care, scrape flat first, and minimise any sanding as much as possible.