where am i

[woodchuck1800]

HI out there, i just joined this forum and i have know idea what i am doing .But take it easy on me I'm an old guy and only know my way around books and there! pages. but I'm giving this a shot . What i wanted to know is there anyone out there that can help me, I am trying to find out, at what degree i set my scroll saw table to cut inlays from 1/2 inch stock that is the top piece is 1/2 inch as well as the bottom piece. Any help would be most appreciated. thank you. This may prove to be better then books.

[Plaquerd]

Welcome Woodchuck1800, you have come to the right place to get info. For me the best way to determine what degree of angle or bevel is to test cut the wood you plan on using. I use a couple of pieces of scrap of the same wood type and same thickness. Set the table at 1 degree for example and cut a circle about the size of a U.S. dime.
I set the table angle to the left and cut counter clockwise to have the bottom piece fit into the top. Keep changing the angle and test cutting until you get the fit you want. That's how I test fit all my inlays. I've tried to use a "standard" setting, but find it better to test each cutting. I hope this all makes sense.
I'm sure there are many more methods to do this and would expect to hear from more of the scrollers on this MB, everyone here is free with their knowledge and info.
Dave
Edit: I find it to be better than books!!!!
Second Edit: You must use the same size blade for cutting the piece as you use for the test cutting.

[GrayBeard Phil]

Woodchuck1800:

1st Welcome to the forum. I hope your visits are enjoyable.

Others will add their own posts, this is just my opinion.

I presume by your post you want to take a larger piece of wood, and remove an enclosed area inside, and replace the cutout with another piece of wood the same thickness. Again I Presume, the inserted piece of wood is of some specific shape, for example a sea shell. The object is to have an exact match of the two shapes and almost no gaps between the original and the inserted wood. You also want to glue, or join, the two pieces of wood by the edges of the kerf (you are not gluing both boards to a substrate backer board.)

You must have been informed somewhere that you need to angle the kerf just slightly in order to get a very tight fit with no gaps between the two pieces.

I believe the angle is less than 1 degree tilt away from dead on perpendicular because of the 1/2 inch stock. With stock 1/4 inch thick, maybe a greater angle could be used.

But even with a 1 degree tilt with 1/2 inch wood you just might have one side proud and the underside recessed a little bit. You will need to do some scraper work.

The problem is the 1/2 inch wood, and complete removal of the cutout on the original. Marquetry work, where the insert is less than 1/8 inch thick and uses the fact the insert is glued on the underside of the original board to great advantage. Loads of tricks to get the two pieces to become joined as one board with gap filling techniques. (of course, marquetry requires routing out the recess for the shape in the original board, not an easy task.)

To get the shapes of the two pieces of wood to match exactly requires a stack cut so you cut both pieces of wood at the same time. (mistakes made on one piece will be duplicated on the other.) Otherwise you will be spending hours and hours with needle files making the two pieces fit.

Since both pieces of wood are 1/2 inch thick, I recommend you stay with an exact 90 degrees between the blade and the table. And I recommed you consider a substrate of 1/4 inch. This is only because of the glueing of end-grain problem.

I hope this helps, but for many reasons my suggestions may not be valid for what you intend to do, as I don't know your total project.

Phil

[woodchuck1800]

This goes off to Plaquerd, and GrayBeard Phil. Wow thanks ,now that is info I can use. My thanks go out to both of you. You would have thought that I would be able to get that kind of info searching the Internet, but I came up dry,one day on this forum and pow there it is just what i needed to know.

"Scroll your way to happiness"

[minowevie]

Welcom Wood chuck1800,, so glad you found some answers so soon. this group is great. glad you are here...Evie

[Greenfield_Bob]

Welcome to the group

Bob

[greg194799]

Wecome aboard woodchuck, that's what this forum is all about people helping people.

[Tor]

Welcome Woodchuck. Glad you got your first answers, and if you have any other questions, give a holler, and you will likely get a reply from one or usually more of the great people here.

Tor

[Pajaro]

Welcome Woodchuck, You wont find a better group of Guys and Gals, with untold knowledge about anything "wood". Enjoy and learn.

[thecopperfish]

Welcome to the group!
Chris