Inlay Tutorial

[wood-n-things]

I'm still confused on the "forward" inlay and "reverse" inlay...DUH@me.

Which is counter clockwise?

[JimSawyer]

A forward inlay, (with the table tilted left down), is cut counter-clockwise. (The piece that will come up from the bottom is on the right side of the blade).

A reverse inlay, (table un-changed), is cut clockwise. (The piece that will drop down into the bottom of the stack is to the left of the blade).

...is this any clearer??

I might also suggest trying one of either the Earth magnets, or the Acanthus leaves from issue #34 SSW&C. They're great primers to this project.

Simple and easy are not the same thing... I remember when I first started doing this I had to pretty much wrestle the wood into place, (sort of). I think the most important thing with this method is to let the blade do the cutting. Learn not to push or lean on the blade. It's like spinning on a pin head. You want the blade to stay straight...

[wood-n-things]

Thanks...That cleared that up.....

[Forester21]

No matter how often I do inlays, I always have to have some scrap wood sitting next to me to make my sample cuts. Not only to get the correct angle on the tilt, but to remind me which way to cut in order to either drop or bring up my inlay. Then I draw arrows on the wood so I know which way to cut.
I tilt my table right down... so everything you mentioned about direction is backwards...

[JimSawyer]

My first saw only went to the left, so I taught myself that way. It will work either way.
Something to bear in mind as you go, is that a hard left, (with most blades), is different than a hard right. You can get a more accute angle with a hard left, (or counter-clockwise turn), than a right.
A hard right takes a little technique. This is when you have to listen to the blade And tell it what to do... mostly, (and this is old hat to some of you), you'll have to learn to pull on the blade as you make the turn, just enough to compensate for the lessened aggression on the left side of the blade. Don't go too far though, as you turn... Remember, Where the blade goes is your cut. you can't back up. (it will show).
I always file the back of my blade nice and round...it helps!!!

[JimSawyer]

Theresa,
I would love to see some of your inlay work....

[normded]

on this project i was bringing the white up but between his legs i needed to bring the brown down so i used the revers also on some of the letter like the o and r i had to bring the brown down befor you bring the white up. i thought this might clear things up but now i'm confused. lol

Jerry

[wood-n-things]

Jerry You are right ..I have no idea why you need to decide between bringing a piece up or down...What causes the dilemma in the first place?

The answer is probably self evident in the middle of a project but just talking about it, I have no way of envisioning the problem. I have done some inlay a long time ago but just using trial and eror and sanding, as i had no one to ask questions of. Those projects did not turn out so well....

[JimSawyer]

No that makes perfect sense Jerry,
The center, between the legs, is to be the same as the wood surounding the character. So, instead of inlaying the light wood, and then re-attaching the dark wood, and inlaying the center, between the legs, it's easier to reverse inlay that piece right away.
Always look for the reverse cuts first. They're what fretsawyers call, 'floaters'. That is a detail that sits apart from the rest of the design. These are usually reverse inlays.
Jerry,
You've obviously got an understanding, because your piece came out great.
And what you wrote wasjust about right... I think it gets a little heady when it's written out. Hey, maybe one day I'll do a DVD...

[wood-n-things]

But isn't it all flush in the end anyway?