Who Uses Woods For Inlays?

[gunslinger]

Just curious how many people sick with wood for your inlays? different colors, dyes, etc.....?

Tips?

I just ordered some Ebony, purpleheart, maple, and rosewood. I got some good ideas for this. Cant wait to get it in and give this a try.

[JPL]

Here's Woody, sorry, it's not a great pic. I didn't use any dye just veneer marquetry inlayed into the body.

[Ledzendrix1128]

For the bass im building i plan on inlaying maple fret markers into the maccassar ebony fret board. I plan on doing it rather soon actually, the fret board is comming in the mail tomorow, so maybe within this week ill get some pictures up.

[unclej]

here's a walnut guitar that i built. for the inlay i used 16 different species of wood. the light colored outline is binding material.

http://www.villagephotos.com/pubbrowse.asp?folder_id=1060875

[JPL]

Very nice uncle. Is the black filler or wood?

[Nitefly SA]

zendrix: im not sure if its a good idea to inlay with maple on ebony, i think when you radius sand that a lot of ebony will get into the maple and won't be able to clean out completely

[unclej]

Very nice uncle. Is the black filler or wood?

←

thanks..it's crushed black stone powder and superglue.

[Ledzendrix1128]

zendrix: im not sure if its a good idea to inlay with maple on ebony, i think when you radius sand that a lot of ebony will get into the maple and won't be able to clean out completely

I never really thought about that, the fretboard is actually coming pre-radiused, and i planned on making the maple level with an already radiused fretboard using a chisel, and then i would be doing minimal sanding, but ill test it out on scrap first to see what happens now that you say that. Maple is a close grained wood though, i would think there wouldnt be any pores for the ebony dust to really get into.

[Mattia]

Maple's still got pores, and they're certainly large enough to get ebony dust in. Using edge tools (chisels, plane) to level, and then moving to scrapers is the best way to keep things clean. I scrape my maple fretboard binding when I use it, and then seal it with shellac (painted on) to keep it from going very nasty coloured.

[Fanatic1]

Maybe a good way its to glue the maple inlay with epoxy or poli first and after you can sand normal.

[Mattia]

Maybe a good way its to glue the maple inlay with epoxy or poli first and after you can sand normal.

...how does this prevent staining?

Acrylized/stabilized wood might provide a solution, but I don't know enough about the stuff to really comment. Larry Davis at Gallery Hardwoods would be a good person to ask.

[guitar2005]

http://www.landryswoodworking.ca/gallery/l.../Projects/Larry

[Fanatic1]

I hope not to bother with the image, but i make a wood inlay, but the fingerboard itsnt finish yet, maybe i will use poly or epoxy, let me check.

[Mattia]

Tip for inlay cutting: make a little platform to support your work. Just take a scrap of ply, saw a big kerf into it, and then saw away. Gives you more control when cutting thin, flexible things (Be that wood or pearl).

[Fanatic1]

thanks mattia its true, you need support for the inlay

[Mattia]

It'll also prevent you from, y'know, sawing into your table ;-)

[Pr3Va1L]

Would it be possible with an alredy radiused FB to inlay the maple then sand it to the radii? wouldn't you just need to stop often to check things out?