Inlays, Tips and Tricks

by Brian Calvert

Using Paper Templates-

Hand carving the cavities out for adding inlay work into the body or fret board of a guitar can be very time consuming and requires special shaped scribes for removing the wood. Luckily most of us now have the advantages of the Dremel tool which comes in quite handy.

First thing you need to think about when doing an inlay is of course a pattern. After you have this drawn out a neat trick for attaching it to the board itself is to use common children's washable glue, which can be found in any office supply store and many other markets. The advantage of this glue is that once your finished cutting against your template you simply moisten a towel or rag with water and it will separate and lift the paper template off of the wood leaving no residue. Be sure before you start to make several copy's of your template encase you need to replace a section or refer to details which have been messed up by the bit of the Dremel.

Fine Detail Work-

For that average wood worker the standard bit assortment that comes with a Dremel works just fine.

If your thinking about doing finer detailed work such as intricate inlays though, you had better think about investing in the smaller collat. and bits which are available in 3/32" instead of the standard 1/8". If your really thrifty sometimes you can talk your dentist into giving you his used bit's which are generally #59 course cutting heads, but still fine for doing this kind of work. I also purchase several different tipped bit's from Turbo Carver to do this type of work. You should also invest in a router base for your tool as well which will help you when cleaning out the larger area's of your pattern.

A Tip I have just come across which helps out greatly is to get a hold of a really cheap aquarium air pump and attach the hose pointing down at the tip of your bit. This will blow away the shavings while you work and save you a lot of time by not having to stop and clear your cavities of debris.

Working with Silver-

For those of you wanting to add that little something special to your project and not on to tight of a budget, you might want to have a go at using silver. Working with silver is very easy if you have the proper tools. What you will first need is a tool called an amalgamator. This tool simply vibrates preloaded capsules which contain a fine bladder pack of mercury along with a mixture of copper/tin powder. This produces the silver commonly used by dentist's world wide for filling teeth. You can purchase both the amalgamator and the silver capsules from Turbo Carver. I personally picked my amalgamator up off Ebay. You will also need an artist spatula to work the silver down into the cavities.

A Safety tip here, you will need to wear a respirator and gloves while working with this process as it does involve working with a known hazardous material (Mercury).

Carve out the cavity (about 2mm deep) in your project and underscore the outside edges giving the silver something to hold on to when it hardens. This way it won't fall out. Place a capsule into your amalgamator and set the timer for 4 seconds which is the normal time for mixing. Once the amalgamator has finished vibrating and mixing the chemicals together open up the capsule and you will find a small silver ball which has the texture and hardness of a small ball of gum. Your going to need to work fast now by filling the cavity and leveling it out as soon as possible since the silver will start to harden immediately, you generally have about 2-3 minutes of quality working time using this method. If you over fill the area you can always file and polish it down. If the amount of silver produced by a single capsule was not enough, leave a rough edge along the open area for the next one to grab onto.

Quick Cavities-

Want somebody else to draw out and scribe the outline of your cavities for you?

If your not to picky about the pattern, you will find that many engravers have a large selection of symbols and images to choose from. Most would be more than happy to cut the pattern out in your project for a fair price. This can be a quick and easy solution for many people since engravers work with a tool similar to a pentagraph which allows them to adjust the size of the image they want to produce thus giving them the advantage of being able to engrave it into smaller areas such as upper fret's and still keep it in proportion with all of the other images.

Chances are you can find an engraver in the phone book, if not look up trophy and plaque makers.

Filling and Attaching-

The most common adhesive used in attaching pearl and abalone in to the cavities of an inlay is hide glue which can be purchased from Stew Mac. No a days many people resort to using hot glues but you may find that to brittle when it hardens depending on the location and thickness of your inlay material.

For filling in inlays which are to deep the best product on the market is Clear Casting Resin which can be found at almost any art or hobby store. This is a two part product which usually takes 24 hours to cure properly but will give you fantastic results and is easy to level and polish.