Clavin

It depends on the inlays. Vines, etc.. with little area underneath are fine if you wick it under. The glue is that thin, and moves that fast. Even with the Indian I just posted I did it that same way, and he's over 5" wide, and I know even though some (little) air is underneath, it's never coming up. Ca has a nice property as well that it shrinks as it dries. That draws it under, and you can add more around the edges later. You'll see this after leveling as recessed areas, and pulled down glue spots. If you put too much under it you may have problem manupulating it later, and it may splatter as you press the inlay in. Another trick is use a thin layer of epoxy underneath, (24hour) so you can maybe move things a bit, and use CA around the edges as stated previously. That way you have a little more feelings of glue being behind it. On a flat inlay like the indian (no radius, ect.. ) there should be almost no room for glue behind the inlay as it is if you routed evenly and clean. The CA fills up all the available space, and seeps in fast. Ca works very fast, and you have to plan ahead, and be methodical. Good luck. Craig Lavin

Basically no, it's not a good method. The way to I do it, and by the way- you will always havea small gap aropund the inlay, no natter what. There needs to be some gap around it, otherwise it could pop out if the woods around it contract too much. First off, rosewood dust will look greener mixed with any glue. It may be a better method to take small slivers of actual color matched rosewood and press them into the wider gap areas. Then glue up as you would normally. Water thickness CA, such as the Stew Mac types, have a near 1 minute or less working time once they contact anything. The method for the dust works best with ebony mainly, and what you do is place the inlay in the cavity, place dust around all the edges, pressing it into the gaps best possible, then glue around the inlay and over the dust, letting the CA wick under the inlay, taking the dust in the voids with it. Then give it al least overnight to set up. Don't use accelorators to speed up the dry times, it sometimes whitens the glues. Then after it's leveled go around and touch up any bubbles, etc... with more CA. Good luck. Craig Lavin www.handcraftinlay.com

Thanks Guys. Chris, it's all hand engraved using both a 6 onglette graver tool, and a scribe. The dark areas are a combination of black pearl, ebony, and engraving/scrimshaw type stipling. I am very pleased with it. Thanks all for looking! Craig L. handcraftinlay.com

I know it's been a while, but it's done- Not on a guitar this time, but does that really matter? Thanks guys! Craig L. www.handcraftinlay.com re later!

That's most likely equal to Foredom. Stew Mac makes inlay related routing items specifically for the Foredom tool so that's nice. I use their entire system. I am in no way affiliated with them, etc.. I just like the tools and the bases. It works very well for me. Craig Lavin

If you want an excellent system go with the Foredom tool. It's foot pedal controlled, and built to way higher quality specs than Dremel. I also use the downcut bits from Stew-Mac. They make a difference in my opinion, and are very worth the money. If you plan on doing a lot of inlay make the relatively small investment in the fordom tool. Craig Lavin www.handcraftinlay.com

What did you use to sand it down? I would think it would be difficult to sand. It looks great though! Craig L.

That's either a decal or CNC inlay. Most likely it's a decal, the rest of the guitar seems pretty plain. Engraving filler is used for filling graved cuts into pearl or metals. Filling gouged out lines in woods is not engraving, it's inlay. I know this sounds like minute details, but the end result is anything gouged then filled in wood wouldn't look that metalic, solid, and clean. Not with anything I currently know of. You can do that with metals, or pearls as inlay, but it's detailed. Good luck. Craig Lavin www.handcraftinlay.com

Whatever you do DON'T do thast last idea... It's impossible to get it even from behind. Just lay out your inlay over the curve, if it is still in seperate pieces then you can even lay down some wax paper first, lay out your pieces over the curve and then glue them in as curved position. Then let it dry, duco glue it down, then use a #11 blade to scribe around the edges. Remove it, clean the board off with acetone, and then fill the lines with chalk. Then rout. Good luck, but sanding from behind in inlay, unless your starting out completely flat to begin with, is rough enough. I normally just glue everything face down and fill in from behind if it's un-even with dust, etc.. I try to never sand from behind. Good luck. Craig Lavin www.handcraftinlay.com

That looks great Glad my tutorials could help you! Have a great holiday! Craig Lavin www.handcraftinlay.com

If the goal is to get silver inlay, use silver for the inlay. There's no bending, or hammering. Just order sheet silver at .06 thickness from a jewelry supply house, such as rio grande, or another, and lay out your pattern as normal for any inlay, cut it out, and inlay it. Why does working with metals seem to sway a lot of people on this forum into trying something "easier", that is really just more of a pain it would seem? I am definitley not attacking anyone for trying someting new. Many of the new polymer clays are being used in inlay, but only on the headstock it seems. They wind up too soft for the fretboard. Silver, gold, and other metals inlay is a done deal, use silver. It's been done before with absolute 100% success. It's relatively cheap, and it's metal. It won't do anything over time except tarnish a little, easily taken off with a micro-mesh polish. Craig Lavin

Like Batfink said, You don't need a tutorial for recon stone if you have one for pearl. It's treated the exact same way as pearl. The only thing is that most types are far more breakable at inlay thicknesses than pearl, so you have to be real careful with it. A CNC is most likely best for cutting it. I do it all by hand and lose a lot of pieces, most of which are not even thin small strips. I haven't used lapis recon in a while, but if I remember it cracks easy. The thing is it's SO dark you would most likely never notice it, as long as it didn't fracture any out too much. One tip is to leave your pattern glued on during the inlay/gluing stage, then just sand it all off at the end. That way the paper pattern holds it together a bit more. Good luck Craig Lavin www.handcraftinlay.com

Agreed. I use almost every type of it. I also previously wrote a whole page mini tutorial on it a few months back regarding which types are the hardest to work, meaning most fragile. Do a search and it should turn up. I use it at .06 or thicker when I can. I have had it break in inlays that otherwise were perfect. I do thickness it first with a thickness sander, then cut carefully afterwards. You could back it with something like a wood or something, but most likely that's not necessary. If your mixing materials with recon stone that are thin- like .05 shell, glue the inlay face down so the thicker areas sticks out the back, then rout to the deepest area, then fill in the back with glues to support the inlay from underneath. Filling with dust also works. Craig Lavin.

I actually get it in my local Publix grocery store here in Florida. I would assume it's flammable but I am not certain. Craig L.

Thanks Ryanb. I have a few new things recently, but they are not posted yet. Mostly just small things like truss covers, etc.. C. Lavin

Why 3M super strength glue- 1) It Works on everything- black + gold pearl, all metals, all other pearls, woods, recon stones, plastics, corians, ... Nothing I have inlaid has been resistant to it yet. 2) It acts like rubber cement to a degree, and is very easy to scrape off with a razor blade. Not at all like CA. It's flexible after drying for a few hours, fully hardens in 24. 3) It's way less volatile. It has a smell, but I never tear up or have problems as much after using it. CA is a killer.. Flue like symptoms, etc.. I only use it in the shop with a chemical grade carbon cartidge mask and a fan going blowing across that. 4) It doesn't ruin the printed line if it's used in the correct amount (sparingly. and in nice flat layers- no clumps. The only flaw it has is it's a bit goopy, relatively thick, and seemingly hard to find at times. But those things can be dealt with. Just another note- I switched to it after being frustrated with my patterns constantly coming up during cutting on even regular white MOP pearl with CA. Yes it was scuffed, etc.. This is the best I have found. Epoxy takes too long and smells worse. Good luck C.Lavin www.handcraftinlay.com

Hi Bob. It's Scotch super strenght glue by 3M. It's in a red and white package, and it's a tube type glue. It's is perfect for inlay pattern gluing. Sorry I can't tell you much about it's availability in Hawaii. I think it's not available in some states due to it's chemistry. Ca is one such place I believe. Hawaii might be the same. C.Lavin

I know people that cut abalam strips with a dremel, or other easy shaped patterns, but when it comes to details or other areas where there are tight curves to be cut, or joining pieces together, either piercing or some other technique, it's going to be unwielding in it's kerf size. Translation- It won't work that well. Mainly due to it's kerf size. C.Lavin

Believe it or not it will still tarnish under a finish, but with a good sealer on it first, then a good finish, it should take a long, long time. Craig L.

1) Buy sheet silver, at .05 to .06 thick from a jewelry supply house. Same goes for absolutely any "jewelery" grade metal. 2) Do not melt anything. 3) Cut it out with a jewelers saw same as with pearl. Treat the inlay as if it were pearl, nothing is any different with methods for pearl, metals, or woods, or plastics, or corian, or anything solid. Polish it out to a higher end grit so it doesn't look scratched. Good luck. Craig Lavin www.handcraftinlay.com

I prefer to do my work on almost fully complete necks, boards on, slotted, and radiused. There is a higher risk of losing everyting, but once you know where your going it's easier. For a beginner I would recommend a radiused, slotted OFF neck board. Why radiused and slotted? You'll make yourself be more careful (hopefully), and also hopefully take more time doing things correctly. Craig L.

Yes the dust can cause silicosis over 40 or so years, but everything else he states is just pure comedy! You need to breath a lot of it in! I really don't understand this company! Stew-mac sells pearl, Luthier's mercantile sells pearl, Rescue pearl, Duke of pearl, Luthiersupply, and the list goes on! None have ever asked me for anything more than my credit card number! I do know that inlay USA was either threatened, or actually sued by PRS for false statements and had a public apology on the inlay USA site for many months a long time ago. Chris I got your e-mail. I'll write you back later. For now keep cool, help is on the way.. C.Lavin Don't buy ANYTHING yet!!!!! For the love of pearl! Sheesh!

Wow. ^ This thread is about the most completely mis-informed thread I have ever read on this forum. Please excuse my tone, it is out of frustration. #1) -You can buy absolutely ANY real shell blank on the market today. I use over 15 species. It's all available, completely UNREGULATED (except for fisheries status), does NOT cause cancer, and for the most part actually if cut with the proper masks, etc.. is relatively HARMLESS. The Feds could care less about it, they ceertainly don't regulate it. 2) The only thing regarding any change in real shell blanks is sadly they are smaller then previously, due to fisheries again. 3) He can sell you full unlaminated shell blanks, he just doesn't. He rather sell thin shell lamination. That stuff is for overlay, NOT inlay. Real laminated inlay materials are abalam. It's basically thin sheets glued to a thickness of around .05 or more, or less. it's your call. It's readily available, easy to work, and it's not cheap. Some types have seams, some don't. It's part of the material wether or not you sand it down or not, for most types. There are others that are seemless for the top .02", but it's not abalam. It's grav-lam, and it's harder to work. 4) Recon stone is typically a great material, and it works "like" shell, but it varies widely. I gave a mini-talk tutorial on it a few weeks ago, why no one references it is beyond me. You guys either arent searching for the information, or are just being led around. I have not heard one good thing about inlay USA. Where they get their information from is unkown, and typically is incorrect. I work with every major shell distributor in the USA, I know their owners by name, and that company is simply not one of them. Please use this site as it was intended. The informaton is all here regarding your questions. Please try to do better searches! Yes I know the forum is for raising questions, and I agree, but there is a lot of info on these topics here. Why is no one lately finding any? Craig Lavin www.handcraftinlay.com

It's NOT worth the health risk, or the effort, or the wasting of materials to learn in the process. You also need to have a map, or pattern, to know where to grind and sand and cut to get out blanks that are useable. For $40.00 or less it's absolutelty NOT worth it. Craig Lavin www.handcraftinlay.com

Inlaying wood into anything is still inlay. Not marquetry. Marquetry is a differently performed art, but can give similar results. C.Lavin