Another Inlay Question

[MTCowpoke22]

Another question for those who do inlay. I've been searching the posts on this and haven't really seen an answer to what I'm doing. I got a request to make an urn and would like to personalize it with some inlay. So far, it looks like most inlay is fairly thin. After talking to the undertaker, I'm going to build a box out of one inch finished lumber. I know I've got to set my table to 2 to 2.5*. What is the best way to go about this? All of the inlay I've seen and posted about on the village is fairly thin and stack cut, but I can't stack cut this, or I really don't think I should. 1 1/2" of stock will destroy my saw and the top won't fit into the bottom very far. Near as I can figure, I'm going to have to cut each piece separately and hopefully the gaps are small enough I can hide them. I do have a planer that will take care of any raised edges so long as it's close. Anyone have any other ideas? Oh, and since it's an urn, I only have a few days to get it done. Thanks.

[jerry1939]

I've never felt a desire to do inlay, so others will need to help.  Can you:

 

1. Put the inlay pattern on the thin piece and cut it.

2. Put a clear sheet of paper on the thick piece.  Set the thin cut piece on the thick, clear paper and trace your next pattern.

 

The inlay will probably only drop in the thick piece, the blade width used for the second (thick) piece.  You would need to experiment with some kind of spacer for tracing the 2nd piece.  WORK WITH SCRAP FIRST !!

 

3. Perhaps using a ball point pen would be a starting test for the 2nd piece.

 

Hope you get better ideas Friend.

 

jerry

[CharleyL]

An urn does not have to be made from wood that thick. 3/4" thick is more than enough, and frequently they are made from 1/2" thick hardwoods.

 

Do you have any urn plans? They are not very hard to build. I have an Acrobat pdf file of the plans for the ones that we make free for NC veterans that I could send to you. It may not be exactly what you are looking for, but should give you the basic ideas and size for you to design what you want from it. We took extra steps to be certain that all of the standard plastic and cardboard cremains containers that come from the crematory would easily fit in it, so that it could easily be placed in the urn without the need to open the cremains container. The bottom of the urn is removed for this step and then replaced with 5 stainless screws (to keep the correct orientation - 2 front, 3 back).

 

The plans do not include any inlay information, so others should be consulted for how to do this. We place a laser engraved 1/8" thick birch emblem into a 1/8" deep recess in the front and bottom of these, as you will see in the plans.

 

Send me a PM with your real e-mail address and I'll send it out to you.

 

Charley

Edited August 4, 2016 by CharleyL

[Jim Finn]

I do a lot of double bevel inlay.  I work with 3/8" thick wood usually, and I have my table tilted 2.2°.  For thicker wood you will need to tilt it a lot less.  Like 1° maybe.   Remember your saw will only cut up to 1 3/4" thickness total. If I were to do this I would do a 3/8" thick inlay and glue it to a thicker wood to get the finished thickness required.  As has been suggested by Jerry.  To find out the proper angle for your cut:  Take some scrap pieces of wood the thickness you will be using and through trial and error you can get the exact angle required.  ( Like about 5" x 5" scrap)  Stack and tape the two scrap  woods together,  Make a mushroom shaped freehand cut into one edge of this assembly.  If the wood fits too loosely you have to increase the angle a little.  If too tight decrease the angle slightly.  Do this a few times until you are satisfied and then leave the saw table tilted at that angle. 

[MTCowpoke22]

Thanks Charley, I've come up with my own design. I've talked to the mortician about the size requirements. I was going to use 3/4" because that's what I have, but after going through my supply, I don't have enough of that either. So I may just pick up what I need in 1/2" instead. We'll see what the lumber store has on hand. 

 

Thanks Jim. That does give me a good starting point for the inlay, and I may try it with a thinner piece and see if it works. 

[Lucky2]

Why not use 3/8" stock and laminate two layers together, it would be the proper thickness when glued together. Unless your stock is a true 1" thick, in that case use 1/2" stock.

Len

[amazingkevin]

I do a lot of double bevel inlay.  I work with 3/8" thick wood usually, and I have my table tilted 2.2°.  For thicker wood you will need to tilt it a lot less.  Like 1° maybe.   Remember your saw will only cut up to 1 3/4" thickness total. If I were to do this I would do a 3/8" thick inlay and glue it to a thicker wood to get the finished thickness required.  As has been suggested by Jerry.  To find out the proper angle for your cut:  Take some scrap pieces of wood the thickness you will be using and through trial and error you can get the exact angle required.  ( Like about 5" x 5" scrap)  Stack and tape the two scrap  woods together,  Make a mushroom shaped freehand cut into one edge of this assembly.  If the wood fits too loosely you have to increase the angle a little.  If too tight decrease the angle slightly.  Do this a few times until you are satisfied and then leave the saw table tilted at that angle. 

 

 

Why not use 3/8" stock and laminate two layers together, it would be the proper thickness when glued together. Unless your stock is a true 1" thick, in that case use 1/2" stock.

Len

I like all these answers!

[Ron Johnson]

I enjoy marquetry and my preference is using â…›" hardwoods over veneer inlayiing a pattern into a â…›" backboard. I'll make a certain number of plates of whatever pattern and number each. Name each part to be cut with name of hardwood and mark grain direction with registration marks (cross) at top of each plate. Using carbon paper trace the registration marks onto back board. Tape first plate onto backboard aligning registration marks. Tape first piece of hardwood to back of backboard set with grain direction. Tilt the scrollsaw table to left approximately 4 degrees (do a test cut and adjust accordingly. I use a 2/0 blade. Always cutting counter clockwise. Discard top cutout peice. Push bottom peice up. It should protrude just above the backboard. Glue in place. Continue on with plate number 2 and etc until all plates have been cut. Sand almost flush with an orbit sander and finish with a scraper. Burning in for shadows is an option. Now this can be inlaid into an urn or into any other project and finished. Hopefully this will give you another option for consideration.

Edited August 7, 2016 by Ron Johnson