How Should I Cut This Inlay?

[JOBeirne]

I bought this

in hopes of being able to do my own vine inlay on a pre-slotted fretboard.

I am completely new to inlaying, but very patient, willing to learn, and in possession of PLENTY of tools, including a dremel.

Would someone be willing to walk me through the process?

Thanks!

[mikhailgtrski]

Hope you have a few hours and patience to spare... plus a jeweler's saw and lots of blades.

I recommend you check out this inlay tutorial and also read Larry Robinson's "The Art of Inlay." I got the majority of the info I needed from those.

I lost track, but I think I spent about 80-100 hours on my first inlay. vine inlay

Mike

[cSuttle]

Did they sell you the shell too? If not, this template will probably be useless. Cutting the shell to fit into a hole is much harder then cutting the hole to fit the shell. Normally, you cut the shell first and then use the shell to make your pattern.

[ninoman123]

Well he could use the template to trace out the pattern onto his own pearl. It would be very hard to actually cut using the pattern, but using the pattern just as a guide for the shape of the vine would work.

[RAI6]

It sounds like this guy isn't designing this item to inlay, but for "painting" on the inlay:

"TREE OF LIFE INLAY INKING TEMPLATE  -   FOR 25.5" SCALE

THIS IS A CLEAR MYLAR PLASTIC TEMPLATE FOR INKING FINGERBOARD LAYOUT... VERY SIMPLE TO USE--ONLY 10 BUCKS!!!"

[JOBeirne]

I was thinking of somehow using the template to cut the inlay, then dremel out the pattern into the Ebony, or whatever I use.

How do you guys think I could go about doing this?

[mikhailgtrski]

About all that template is good for is tracing your pattern onto paper.

Yes, you'll use the dremel to route the cavities to receive the inlay.

Make sure you read and re-read the tutorial and the book until you fully understand all the steps. And practice routing on scrap before you start on the real thing. It takes a lot of practice to route nice tight-fitting cavities.

Mike

[Sambo]

Probably easier to buy the inlay and the board from the bloke who sells those templates on fleabay. They work out about 50-60 dollars for the board and inlay i think?

[Arseneau]

You can definiely do this inlay but, like mentioned above, the "template" will be useless except to draw the pattern onto paper.

What you'll want to do is transfer the pattern onto paper, cut out each shape using an x-acto knife, then attach each cut out piece to your chosen piece of inlay material using double sided adhesive. I like to then put a layer of masking tape over the whole thing to reduce shattering of the shell and redraw the pattern on top of the masking tape so you have a good clean line to follow with your jeweller's saw. Once you get the pieces cut out (this will take MANY hours/days and countless blades for your saw), then you can attach them to the fretboard in their proper positions with a SMALL dot of glue, scribe around each piece with the x-acto, pry piece up carefully and use your Dremel and some small carving chisels to clean out the cavities (this will also take many hours/days).

This way, each cavity is tailored to fit a specific piece (be certain to number your pieces or you will guaranteed get lost) so there is no realistic way of using that template to actually cut the pieces out.

See what we're getting at?

[Duff Beer Man]

u guys just use jewelers saws to cut the shell? No one uses a scroll saw?

[Arseneau]

A jeweller's saw is so precise and easy to use once you get the hang of it that I couldn't imagine doing it any other way. I assume by scroll saw you mean the electric variety? Seems to me that it would be okay for Gibson style fret markers but I can't see using it for anything overly detailed...we may be thinking of two completely different tools however...

[Duff Beer Man]

by scroll saw i mean this

If u mean that, i think it can be used for very percise stuff if u get used it and practice. The girl in my woodshop class does some crazy stuff with it.

[Arseneau]

Yes, that's the tool I was thinking of. I have one in my shop but it almost never gets used. The blade on the scroll is MUCH bigger than on the jeweller's saw, plus I prefer the control of hand cutting over electric cutting.

Not saying it's impossible, just seems kind of pointless to risk an intricate inaly (not to mention fingertips) on an electric saw that has too large a blade for the job.

Just my 2 cents...

[Duff Beer Man]

yeah i see what your saying, i dont just from my perspective didnt look that bad, maybe im wrong, im not sure, i am gonna try a scroll saw though and just do a mock up to see how percise and im also going to get a jewelers saw and compare the two mock ups.

[thegarehanman]

Watch your fingers for heaven's sake. That's another advantage of a jeweler's saw: there's no danger in working with tiny pieces. Definitely don't try to put a jeweler's saw in the scroll saw; I don't want to think about what could happen if your hands were close to theblade when it brakes.

peace,

russ

[Mattia]

The major advantage to a jewelers saw is that you can, in real time, continously, adjust the angle, speed, and direction of cut. Pearl is thin, fragile stuff; you sometimes want to slow down, stop even, make very tight curves at lower speeds, change the stroke, and generally just feel how the saw's cutting. I wouldn't ever want to be without that immediate tacticle feedback from both the saw AND the piece being cut.

Oh, and there's still danger. I tend to, uh, saw little kerfs into my fingernails from time to time. No blood, though, because you notice when its happening.