A few have asked me how I do my inlay:
This is how I do double bevel inlay.
I use 3/8" cedar and inlay 3/8" soft maple into it. I also use have used oak, walnut, and maple. I have used mahogany a few times also. I have one of my scroll saws set to 2.2 degrees, approximately, that I use only for inlays. I set that angle with a Wixie but you can also do it by trial and error and it is just as good a way to do it. This is how to get the right angle: Stack the two woods you want to use, scraps. Tape or hot glue them together. Do some trial cuts starting at 2 degrees and adjusting up until you get the fit needed. Start at the edge and cut out the shape of a mushroom, freehand, and see how it fits. With the table tilted down on the left of the blade and keeping the image you want to inlay to the right of the blade make your mushroom cut and see how well the bottom wood after doing the cutting, fits into the upper. If it will not go all the way up you need to lessen the angle and if the bottom wood comes up to high you need to sharpen the angle closer to 3 degrees. I move mine about two tenths of a degree at a time. Remember a little too loose a fit is better than too tight a fit.
I inlay into cedar mostly and if it is too tight a fit and I try hammering it in place with a plastic hammer I split the cedar. Perfect fit can be attained with many trial and error mushrooms. I leave most of mine just a little loose and fill any slight gaps with a mixture of white glue and sanding powder of the base wood. Cedar in my case. I use Flying Dutchman Polar #5 blades but whatever you use be consistent. I hot glue the wood to be inlaid to the underside of the base wood and draw the image or lettering on the top wood. I drill 1/16? starter hole or holes at six degrees toward the outside of the image with the image to the right of the drill bit. This six degrees will cause this starter hole to not appear in the final inlay. It enters inside the image on top and exits outside the image on the bottom. After drilling the starter hole just inside the image insert the saw blade and cut the image out keeping the image to the right of the blade. Cut the entire image out, remove the bottom wood scrap and do a dry fit of your image. If it fits well enough tape the top image piece to the bottom one and cut any interior lines you want in the image in a scroll saw set at 90 degrees. Make all these interior cuts so that the wood does not fall apart. Keeping ?bridges? of wood to hold the image together in one piece. I cut these two images together for two reasons. (1) The internal lines are not on the lower piece and (2) cutting this ?? thickness gives you more control of your cut. Slows your feed rate down a little.
Now apply glue (I use Elmer?s white glue) to the edge of the piece to be inlaid and spread it all along the edge using a small artists? brush. Insert the inlay from the back side of the base wood and push in place. After glue is set, sand or plane smooth, both sides. Using a mix of white glue and sanding powder (From the base wood, or the inlay wood) and a credit card as a squeegee force it into any slight gaps or cracks in your inlay. Let it dry and sand again. Repeat a few times because the glue mixture will shrink a little.
I hope these instructions will help.
If you have any questions Email me Jimtfinn@aol.com
