Inlay Tutorial

[wood-n-things]

Jerry,
On your example, did the entire piece end up in 2 pieces when you cut for the light part? It appears from that picture it would be cut in half.

I apologize for seeming dimwitted and hijacking the thread.

[Wood Dog]

I'm following and printing out this thread, and thank everyone for their questions, and especially thank Jim for the help he is giving. How lucky we are to have this forum. A big thank you Fox Chapel.
Now for a question of my own. I drill the entry hole at an angle, then when I insert blade the wood is at an angle also, left side touching the table, right side up in the air till it starts cutting, but I seem to always make a sloppy first start. How can I avoid this? Is my angle too steep? Should I not start to cut untill the wood is totally flat on the table? What would Jim do?

[wood-n-things]

Great question WD.....It's cooler today perhaps if I can get my yard work done I can get some shop time before it heats up...

[JimSawyer]

Wwd,
Yup, your angle is too steep.
I generally get just a hint of pressure against the blade. Ideally the blade should touch the left side of the hole at the top, and the right side at the bottom. (This applies to both forward and reverse inlays).
If you've got to force the piece down, that's too steep, workable, but too steep. You'll probably have a bit of filing to do to remove the burr.
The blade will have a transition point when you start the saw, Where it will jump into place. This is normal. As long as your pilot hole is in the right place, you will stay nicely to the pattern line. This is also why, when you're finishing a cut, it's best to forget about the pattern line and line up with the begining cut.

[Arcy]

Thanks Jim,

Your answer to Jerry completely cleared up my confusion about reverse vs. forward inlay. I hadn't been thinking of it as inlaying one wood into a second and back into the first.

Even if you're not up to a DVD yet, how about a video tutorial?

--Rob
Yup. You should have kept your mouth shut

[JimSawyer]

So when am I going to see some pictures.......

As Yoda says, "There is no try...There is only do".

[normded]

actually mike (one of them anyway) lol i didn't cut the final circle till i was all done so it was all one piece. here is another example i had to do the reverse for the floaties in the letter o on this one. this is an example what happens when you don't use enough contrasting wood. grrrrr

[wood-n-things]

So the reverse is when you have to place the piece back in from the top?

I'll ask again isn't the Idea for it all to be flush anyway so why do you have to come from different directions?
&in post #17 the lighter wood appears to run the entire width...How did you avoid the entire piece being in 3 pieces...the upper the lighter and the lower section?

I know I'm being a pain but that is what i do best....LOL Thanks for the help.

[Arcy]

Hi Mike,

Since I confidently bragged that I understood this, let me give it a shot. Jim: whack me upside the head if I'm wrong.

For the final product, it doesn't matter if any given piece is reverse or forward inlaid. The end result will be the same.

However, if there are floaters, then they can all be inlaid with one setup if the floaters are reverse inlaid into the area that surrounds them, and then that is forward inlaid back into the same piece of wood the floaters came from.

For example, to inlay an walnut doughnut into a piece of oak, attach the oak to the top of the walnut and the pattern on the oak. Reverse inlay the oak doughnut-hole into the walnut, then forward inlay the walnut doughnut (with oak hole) back into the oak. All with the same setup.

If everything was done in the same direction, then the hole would need to be inlaid into the doughnut, and then the oak and the walnut boards would need to be swapped and reattached in the other order to inlay the walnut doughnut (with hole) into the oak.

That make sense?

--Rob

[Arcy]

I may have forward and reverse backwards there. In my head, I think of inlaying up (raising) or inlaying down (dropping). I don't think it matters, so long as one is consistent and does a test cut to make sure.

--Rob