The Best Way To Inlay

[Orion]

I've been working on a Vulcan harp for a long time. I finally got all of the problems sussed out except for one: I need to inlay a rather large-- but not verydeep-- area of wood so the 1/8" thick back panel can be mounted flush with the harp's frame.

Most of the back is cut out so there's not a lot of surface area to be routed away, but the major problem is routing to the shaped edges; I don't want to get to the edges and accidentally break through the lines and ruin all of my hard work. Does anyone know of a way to route out a pattern to the edges when one of those template kits is not available or can't be used?

'Ron

[mobjack68]

the problem you speak of is a universal one and with regards to the title of the thread....there is no best way to inlay. Usually ends up being whatever works for the person doing the work.

Router to remove most of the waste is good, there will be handwork involved.
I have done some inlay, mostly mother of pearl/abalone/paua...and mostly on knife handles. I like to get the inlay close on shape/size then cut the hole (inletting) and do final sizing/shaping on the inlay piece.

Not knowing what your tool selection is, your biggest issue will be inside corners, it is hard to get those clean and properly cut to depth....

Have you done any inlay at all, before this??? (I don't want to insult your intelligence or abilities...by virtue of the fact you are building a harp, tells me something about your woodworking skills....)

They offer some very specialized 'flat bottom" inletting tools for what you are trying to do, mostly gunsmithing types of things. IF you have a grinder?? bench or handheld, you can very easily customize some tools that will do nicely for what you need.....are you ready for this?? SCREWDRIVERS!!! most screwdrivers are made from very good, hard steel. Some better than others..Irwin is my favorite. Bent the tip first, so you can get an angle on what will be the cutting edge. I like to bend it where the flat portion transitions into the shank. easier to bend there, then the whole blade becomes the "flat" to rest on the wood as you cut and the bend or "heel" offers a pivot of sorts for leverage. Grind the end of the blade to fit....diamond shaped to cut the corner, gentle radius if you are cutting curves....
Happy with the shape?? grind a bevel on the edge so it will cut, you may want to reduce some of the thickness of the end of the blade....

sharpen, go for it!! keep the edge cool while you are grinding, if it turns blue, too much heat/temper loss (not yours...the steel)

If you need some illustrations, holler...I can sketch this out and get it posted for you..
good luck AND, we are expecting pics of the harp!!

[Orion]

The V. harp surprisingly isn’t all that complicated but it took a long time for me to suss out all of those niggling details and to get the sizes right. You make a guitar, mandolin, a banjo, or a violin and there are plans and kits everywhere. But to make this there is only one very badly flawed set of plans. The guy who wrote the booklet made the plans for idiots: instead of proper drawings and dimensions, to make the harp you have to cut out pieces and paste them onto cardboard and use them as cutting guides. This might work if you have one or two copies of the book, but they’re gone now and getting the elusive plans off of the ‘Net leaves one without any dimensions or references as to size for any of the pieces. Oy.

I was gonna route out the inside and leave the back about ¼” thick but then I saw one day by sheer accident the back of Spock’s harp; it had an inlay panel for the back and even a 3” round disk at the base that’s probably a Vulcan speaker heh heh. The plans-- such as they are-- call for a 1/8" birch panel for the back; I liked the way it looked so I tried the inlay approach on an old frame that hadn’t come out quite right. It’s not all that difficult until you get to edges, then routers want to go on a trek of their own and tend to cut up the edges in the blink of an eye. I think a speed controller might help, but I dunno....

Anyway, while I’m no fan of routers (I hate them) , I know how to use them. But what would I do with screwdrivers? ;-)

‘Ron

[arfer1943]

I hope this helps. Ian Norbury inlay method, plus invaluable one on varnishing.

Hints and Tips

[Orion]

Nope, it was a dead link buut thanks anyway.

I have to say I got a little bit irked at point and started looking for a reliable inlay method when I saw some reference to a Dremel tool. After seeing that I suddenly came up with an idea that much to my surprise, actually workeds fairly well: taking my clunky old 1/4" router which has a clear plastic window at the base and a bright pen light, I found that I could hold the router with my right hand and the flashlight with my left. Once I could see through the window where the router was going and what the router was really cutting, I could actually get pretty close to the edges without catastrophe. At times, the bit would travel over the curves as if the whole thing was a template and I was just using a plain ol' straight bit.

While the design of the harp is very elegant, those curves can easily make a router
"hydroplane" around and off of those curves, making it incredibly easy to lose control in the blink of an eye. Router-friendly, the harp is not.

And yet, this is a slow and tedious method that requires a lot of cleaning up afterwards but hey, it works fairly well. It takes about four hours to do the inlay with nothing but a straight bit with a 1/4" shank. There is one drawback though: a moment of carelessness and even when I can see the line and where the bit is cutting, the router can go wild so I have to really take my time with this.

I appreciate all of your input guys. With a little luck and some practice, I just might actually get this done. Pictures to follow-- just don't hold your breaths too long.

'Ron

[Orion]

Just a note: the speed control idea was a good one.

The controller is adjusted to the point that the router just begins to stall out, perhaps a bit faster, at this point it really allows much greater manual control so that the router can easily take close curves without going out of control. It's still an awkward way to do things, but it can do intricate curved inlay once the router is adjusted for the right cutting depth.

Since I needed only a cutting depth of 1/8" I was using a small straight bit that unfortunately leaves something of a rough edge. I don't know if they make them that small but think a spiral bit is probably better and might not leave the same kind of roughness. Something to check out.

Ron

[brian-bailey]

Woodcraft has an 1/8" downcut spiral bit. Works great for inlaying.

Buy Replacement 1/8" Downcut Spiral Bit, Whiteside# RD1600 at Woodcraft.com

[Dan S]

there is a great book called the art of inlay. Have a look. The guy who wrote it is amazing.

some photos!

Dan

[Orion]

It may be a little while before the photos.

Build a guitar, a mandolin, a violin, even a banjo-- there are books, plans, even kits everywhere. Look for info on a Vulcan harp or lyrette and if you're lucky you might come across the only set of very hard to find, outdated, and badly flawed plans. Nowhere in them is there any dimensions as to how big or how wide this or that piece is meant to be. The author had the bright idea of cutting out each piece and pasting them onto cadboad to be used as cutting templates; great, if you had the booklet but next to useless if you are working from a computerized file or a Xeroxed copy.

To get anywhere is a matter of trial and error. Slow, torturous, trial and error. I figured out how to inlay the front and back panels, but now I have to make the right-sized template for them. I've seen a v. harp where the top panel covers the entire front and a different design where there is a distinct edge around the top panel. The first method just glues the panel down while the second idea requires the front to be routed out-- just like the back, but deeper. Either way, the panels have to be made to fit. I can't tell ya how many trips I made to Kinko's just trying to get the bloody panels right. I just about got it, but it's gonna take me a little while to get the panels installed. Then I'll show some of the results as this has been a major learning experience. But I'm sure that once I get the first one finished, it will be a whole lot easier to make a second one ( if I make a 2nd one).


Ron

[Orion]

Photos will be ready in a few days.

I had started to make a walnut frame but lost control over the jig saw and made a nasty irreparable cut in the neck. But it was still in good enough condition to use as a practice harp where I could see what had to be done and practice doing it.

I had to make about eight cutting templates, then practice inlaying until I managed to get a back panel to fit fairly nicely. I then cut out the back to see how the speaker was going to go. It looks pretty good now, but when I get the thing really finished using good quality cherry wood for the frame, walnut for the top panel, birch for the back panel, and maybe mahogany for the bridge (mahogany has good sustain properties) and nylon strings-- the only thing I'll probably have to shop out as I don't have a lathe, is that big round knob at the bottom that is the stringholder (also called "the glide"). it's gonna be fancy, yowsa.

Ron