Clavin

Always always after!

Your cuts in some cases may not even go a 10th of a mm deep.

Engraving is the very last thing you'll do to the inlays.

Sometimes I will re-sand a very very slight bit with 400 grit, but that will most times add dust to the lines.

I have been using a stearate filler lately for my engraving, not the inks and glues I used to.

I have also been working on a piece which has been the most challenging for me to engrave to date. Pics is a week or so, most likely longer.

Craig

PS- don't think good engraving happens fast.

Use extremely light strokes and go slightly deeper each time. The graver should move like a snail over a stone.

Craig.

Hi Dave.

Contact me at

Clavin@handcraftinlay.com

Speak to you soon.

Craig

Make an exact tracing of it before it's removed and send it to me.

I may be able to help. You can deal with it in ebony. Don't worry. Just make sure your removal is very clean.

You won't be able to fix the crack. Not well anyway.

If it's only one small inlay and it's not crazy I may be able to cut it for you. As a Christmas gift It sucks to have that happen..

Does this sound helpful? Let me know. You pay shipping though..

Craig

Many companies do stain thier ebony boards with black oil die to make them a more even color.

I sand out my boards and inlays to 600 max, but often go over the inlays with micromesh, not the entire board.

It's a personal preferance. I would think a micromesh sanded board, with a bit of the die would make for a very smooth playing surface. Something I would personally like.

Craig

Nicely done Saber.

For a first I would say extremely nice work!!

Craig

I don't "undercut" my work. I can't speak for others.

I never understood this concept.. and most people's routes are not tight enough to require "undercutting" CNC does not make an undercut and that's as tight as it gets.. cutting a straight edge only requires a straight bit. The carbide downcut bits, or any straight router bit will provide this.

I use one type of bit for all my routes. I engrave with a hand graver tool, not a dremel.

Craig

Dremel for routing inlays help 101

Use the lower speeds, they give you more torque, something you want when inlaying into ebony, too fast and you'll smoke out the wood, scorch it. That's BAD when inlaying into maple.

I use the Stew-Mac fordom router. Even at it's fastest speed it's still relatively slow. Around 1 or 2 on the dremel. Dremel has a lot of speed you don't need for routing.

Check out these links and products..

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Inlay,_pearl/T...rl_cutting.html

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tools/Foredom_...tary_Tools.html

As far as bits go Dremel has tons of bits that all look very cool and seem magically usable somehow. For inlaying I use only one type of bit- the stew mac carbide down cut bits, in the different sizes.

The carbide makes them last, and they cut exeptionally clean, with little or no fraying of the edge route.

Also, using the flex shaft will stop your hands from that "vibrating for hours after your done inlaying" that you feel.

I know these are pricey things, but you are only as good as your tools.

Craig

Oh- and before someone jumps on me- No, I don't represent Stew-Mac. They just happen to have alot of the best tools in one place. Others may be cheaper, but I personally haven't researched it. They also have many tools and bits made just for them. Also try Luthiers Mercantile, (LMI) and others.

I use the stew-mac adjustable router base, set it to depth, hold it with two hands while the piece is double stick taped to the bench, and go up and down. The depth setting remains constant, but you don't break bits, and the route comes out so clean that even the smallest areas can most times remain intact (insides of O's, etc.. )

Craig.

Just finished this for a customers les paul re-issue.

I guess it's either his wife's or girlfriend's name.. I never ask

Materials are gold pearl, ebony, red brass (dix gold)

The methods for this are get the signature, blow it up a bit, then BOLD it. It should then be thick enough to try to cut.

I tend to use metals for these because shell is too fragile at script font (real signature script anyway) I fill the holes with real ebony cut outs, not filler, as it looks much worse. Cut using a thinner blade, 06 even, maybe thinner. Metals cut easy, but these are real easy to break. I then glue the actual cutting pattern to the area, NOT the inlay (these are too thin to scibe) , and thow on a 1/32 downcut bit. I rout by using a "sewing machine" type method. Don't run the router straight through the pattern, it will ruin it. Take the router and bob it up and down and make lots of little holes as you go, then run the bit through after you weaken the wood rout enough. The 1/32 bits are so small they break easy. Take the pattern off, clean up with acetone, rout any areas not letting the inlay get in, and then inlay like normal.

Craig

Masecraft supply

Depaul supply

Recue pearl

Contact them all and request catalogues. They are worth it.

Craig

Oops..

Brian, it's Craig Lavin, Clavin is just my user name! C lavin...

Can you fix that Puh-lease!!!

Thanks Brian.

You da boss round here ...

I hope to have the other complicated inlay done soon. I have tons of pics, they are just not organized yet.

You make that last mess seem almost workable!

Thanks again, Craig

Well, you know I WANTED to say that, but...

Personally I think it's not that artistic of a dragon. It's too "beastly" for me.

I like my dragons with a bit more modern "stealth" look to them.

I am in the middle of designing one that I hope will express my vision.

We'll see what happens.

Thanks LGM.. keep cutting!

Craig

How thin is it?

I would think you would not want to inlay anything less than .03,

Just sanding it could take off as much as .02.

Eastern (japan/ China) inlay artists work with .02 to .03, but the inlays are basically unstable, and crack easily. Spend $5.00 and buy real dots from rescuepearl.com

Just my two cents.

Craig

Most likely in the 30 mark, if a "prototype" is worth $5,000 more.

The regular series goes for $25,000. It's a 250 or so piece inlay, mostly abalam. Specially developed stuff, extra thick, about .10 in some cases. It's quite the CNC mill technical wonder.

Craig

Hi Alex.

That is a neat idea, however I do wonder why you would want PRS's theme on the mockingbird. Why not do something of your own?

Those in the know might think it's a tad odd

Thanks Snork.. I hope others feel like it was good as well. I know it wasn't the most simply written one, or the most photo-rich, but I feel like I tried to expand on ideas and offers tips and "tricks" a bit.

Of course if anyone has questions please let me know.

Brian please feel free to edit and link all of the posts together to make a real tutorial out of it. I will expand in areas as well if you would like.

Craig

Rescue pearl offers small side dots in almost every pearl available, in varying sizes from less than 1mm to over the size of fret dots.

www.rescuepearl.com

Drill just below the depth, and treat like inlay.

Craig.

Hi again.

We left off at positioning the piece in the proper place, we scribed around that with a #11 exacto knife (or some people like to use scribes, but to me they don't cut as deep). Then we removed the inlay, cleaned everyting off with acetone, and rubbed white chalk over the lines to highlight them as a routing pattern. We then got our depth and routed to as perfect a fit as possible.

Check your depth with a small piece of the shell that is the thinnest in your inlay, to make sure the depth is where you want it to be. Remember it's easier to rout deeper, raising an inlay takes a little practice as the glues in most cases shrink, so you have far less control over that.

After the rout is done, and everything fits nice, fill the hole with your glue. If its epoxy make sure you mixed correctly, and add some to the hole, then add the inlay, then add more over the top. Make sure every seam and open area is filled with glue. If your using CA, use the thinnest you can find, fill some in the hole, place in the inlay, and if in ebony, take some ebony dust and fill the edges between the rout and the inlay with the dust. It will seep in making the edge look almost flawless after leveling, and it keeps the extremely thin glue under control from runing all over as you add glue.

The thin glues are about the same viscosity as water, so be carefull with them. It's easy to get it all over, AND it's superglue. Wear a mask as well for any of the woodworking steps.

Superglue can cause a reaction almost like getting the flue. Trust me it is extremely lame

I work the glue with a mask AND a fan going.

The ebony dust trick works nice in ebony, however it does not for almost any other woods.

Train yourself to be patient and rout tight and clean. That is the real key to good inlay- good design, interesting use of materials, tight cuts, and clean routs.

At this point your inlay should look like crap

If using epoxy clamp the inlay down. Epoxy doesn't shrink, and the inlay needs to sit as flush with the rout as possible.

You'll notice the two different glues in this picture.

I use the green duco cement to hold inlay to the wood for scribing, and the red 3M glue for piecing out the pattern on my materials.

Many people use CA for patterning, but CA won't hold paper well to gold or black pearl, and it lifts off easily while cutting patterns. That is a sure fire way to screw up your pattern during cutting, and you will have to re-cut the piece. The 3M glue is one part, and dries fast. It's a little gelatinouse, so make sure your pattern sits FLAT on the material. Raised pattern means a mis-shaped piece. It sticks to every pearl and stone and metal I know. I really like it.

After 24 hours you can start to level the inlay down. I don't care how long the package says it takes the glue to cure, or how much of a hurry your in because yours so excited about the piece.

You want your work to be around for years, so why not take the proper time making it? Let the glue fully cure. Otherwise you may be sanding wet glue.

Then using a flat bottom solid wood block (any other will possibly have flex to it, sanding unevenly- a no-no on musical intruments- especially fretboards)

start at 80 grit, and work your way down to 120, then 220, then 400 grit papers.

I start using 120 about when there is still glue all around the inlay, but the inlay is becoming visible.

I go to 220 grit when the glue is almost gone, but there is still enough to see the glue clearly, then when the glue is almost whisp thin, but still there, I go to 400. I use them all dry except for when leveling plastics. If I have plastics in an inlay, like the shark here, I'll go to 220 dry, then finish off with 400 wet, (or with oil) and then even go to 600 to buff out the plastics. Some may need higher grits..

About this stage in the photo I would still be at 120, but not for long. Just until I see the glue going away enough to make the inlay seem flat. You can switch to higher grits sooner to be safe, it just means a little more sanding time. If you go too far down on a fretboard kiss the board goodbye, especially if you can't re-radius it out. THAT is why I never support sanding an inlay going fret by fret.

More on fingerboards in my very complex/advanced inlay tutorial- coming up next.. I'm not even done with that one yet....

After it's level you may need to go back and pick out any bubbles, etc.. the glue formed while it was drying. I like to use the #1 blade, and dig them out until the white dust is gone, and fill them with the CA. It fills clear and fully. If it's in ebony, and you can't get out the bubble or the white dust out all the way, I have a little trick- clean out the bubble as much as possible- take some black india ink and fill the bubble with that, then seal that with the CA. Of course it only works in ebony, but its fast, cleaner than filling with ebony dust.

Re-sand the new glue down again starting at 220.

If your happy with the inlay you can stop at this point, and you should be pretty proud.

I am almost never happy with it at this stage, so I break out my graver tool to add all those details you can't get with cuts.

Thr graver is the silver one, l my technical pencil up top. Most people use a handle on it as well, but recently I have been having a better time without the handle. I feel like I have more control without it.

Gravers are used for engraving, and I am FAR FAR from an expert on that. I am learning as I go on engraving, but I can tell you far less people hand engrave these days than do inlay. I whish I knew of a good tutorial on it, but I don't.

Gun engravers can teach you how to engrave, but they are few and far between as well.

What little I know basically is this.

Draw out your pattern on the material you want to engrave on with the pencil, or pen if your good enough to control the ink.

When using pearl try to choose the most pattern free/plain MOP you can find. High figure pearl with blur the lines with the pattern, and it fractures out easier.

After you draw out your pattern, gently (one wrong scratch means you just ruined all your previouse work- not fun on a 75 hour inlay... - No I'm NOT kidding- you can't fill an incorrect deep graver scratch. You can only SAND it out) and gently scratch away at your pattern going deep with the graver each time. You will make a little "track" for your graver to follow as you go, but the key I have found so far is relatively low pressure, and smooth tracking. Stop after each pass, and re-place the cut. Fill your cuts with either colored wax paste or inks.

And remember, the engraving will wear with play, so keep your highest engraved areas toward the more non-used regions of the fingerboard if that's where the inlay is going. Proper engraving takes hours. It's a seperate art than inlay, with rules and skills all it's own. take your time and don't rush it. Some engraving artists' engraved pieces took years.

Here is one last complete parting shot- without engraving, and then with engraving.

You can see the details make the piece.

I added the mouth lines, the whites of the eye, the white teeth, and some shading on the tail.

I also added the electrosensory Ampullea of Lorenzini pits on the face, but the photo didn't catch that.

The more realistic and detailed the image the more your work will express what you truly are trying to get across. That's why we make and play guitars anyway right?

Thanks for following along. I'll do another complex inlay one soon- here's a preview

My freind's wife as the lady of the lake raising excaliber- tons of engraving on this one, and lots of pieces on a radiused, dot-drilled-slotted fingerboard, on a neck already. No room for error here.

Craig Lavin

www.handcraftinlay.com

You mean like replace MOP with abalone or something like that?

Is it worth it?

You would still have to glue and level it.

That requires sanding down the board evenly. That requires sanding down the length of the board, from the bridge to the nut. Sanding each fret is a waste of time, and much more likely to cause bigger problems in the possible un-evenness and mistakes.

Craig.

There's a right way to do it, and a wrong way to do it.

Pulling the frets and replacing them after the inlay is complete is the right way.

Inlaying each fret, then gluing each fret, then leveling each fret and potentially doing it unevenly is the wrong way to do it.

It's great to want to do things yourself, however you can potentially ruin the guitar, and just need a new neck and a refret anyway. Getting the rout depth will be a pain as well with the frets in. As well as runny glue sticking to the frets, and then they need a re-polish.

As well as tutorials here.

I'm not trying to be negative, just trying to save you a LOT of wated time and effort. If your going to do it yourself do it with re-fretting, full neck sanding, and fretwork. Not fret by fret. You'll learn more in the process.

Craig

Thanks Jeremy.

I think you are really up and coming.

That falling leaves design is one of my most popular.

I normally wouldn't care if you used that design, with my permission, and a refernce, however I did that as an expansion of the Logo for luthier John Kinnaird.

It's basically his little abalone tree and moon blown up into what you see that I did.

So it's only available on his guitars. Thanks for respecting that.

Now if you want to collaberate on a guitar, or an inlay, I'm all ears

Thanks, Craig

Thanks LGM.

As far as the thickness question goes, no. I always thickness the pieces seperatley. Some materials are so thick that it would throw everything off. I am also afraid that since I cut so many tiny pieces the sander would rip them off.

I just rout to the depth, or, if I am piecing together in reverse I don't back the pieces that are to shallow, I fill in the back with eboony dust and glue, then inlay as flush as possible.

The blue plastic is call blue ocean or something like that. Sorry I forgot!

Basically I have over at least 60 different materials, shell, stones, woods, metals, ivory, plastics, etc..

Masecraft supply is your one stop materials shop! it will open up your pallete 500%,

And with you inlaying that could be just a tad bit scary

Craig

Now that's what I mean about creative use of materials!!!!

Tha'ts stunning LGM.

The goal here is to break new ground.

Nice work!

Craig

If bet if you engrave a small naval and the leg line, it would be a lot more girlish, without removing from the shadow look she keeps up top.. The legs and lower body are "natural" already..

Just my artsy fartsy 2 cents.. is really is nice the way it is

I know when I've used mismatched thicknesses what I do is glue it together face down as Craig said. Then if it isn't mismatched to badly I don't worry about it. Sometimes if there is a .010" or .020" difference, I'll clue some small squares of styrene plastic to the backside of the thinner material, this way I don't accidentally push the thinner stuff down into the route to hard and crack it or break it.

If the material is much thicker I will sand the thicker material down before I ever start cutting, (generally shell blanks are consistent, so I'm talking the difference between shell and plastic, shell can be ordered in different thickness's)

Hi LGM..

That's excatly why I use the thichness sander.

It gets everyting ready before you start to glue things up.

Most of the matrials I use these days are all thicker than shell by a good 1/8 inch, things like plastics, corian, stones.

It really helps keep the inlay under pretty good control.

Craig