MOP Inlay In Hand Made Red Oak Semi-Auto Grips

[LeatherWood]

First; Big thank you to Robby, Mobjack68, Peter Wright & Dan S. Your help in getting me going is appreciated. I still have a ways to go. This is where I'm at. On 09-18-09 I posted a call for help in learning how to do Mother Of Pearl inlay into some Red Oak grips I'm making for a 1911-A Semi-Auto 45.

I have basically, done the new grips fashioned from the plastic grips that were on the 1911. Here is a pictorial of what I have been doing, not that I know what I'm doing, but I'm getting after it.

Will need more advice for the actual inlay process and I getting close.

[Peter Wright]

Leatherwood,

Now the fun starts....................

What thickness are your inlays?

Remember what I said about working with a concave surface and "losing" the edges of the inlays?

You will need to glue the blanks onto the wood with Duco cement let it dry and then VERY carefully scribe around the edges of the inlay with a needle or sharp pointed object.

Drizzle a little acetone on to dissolve the glue and remove the inlays. Let dry and then fill the scribed lines with a contrasting colored chalk dust.

Set you router depth of cut for about 3/4 of the thickness of the inlays and then carefully work from the center to the edges routing out material.

You can go full depth if you want, but its easier to work the shell down to the wood than having to change grip profile and dimensions.

Once inlays are fitted, glue in place with CYA and then use fine cut needle files and abrasive paper to tidy up the surfaces flush.

Apply finish and let dry done

[Robby]

Neat design. Also, use something to back up the sandpaper, a piece of wood or stiff rubber so as not to sand the wood away and leave your inlay sitting high. A do-able job and should look great when done.

[LeatherWood]

TO Peter Wright;
All 4 pieces are about the thickness of 2 pennies. They were 4 pennies thick & I kept them thick to endure my cutting/sanding to a usable state. I have a piece of practice wood from same grip/branch to practice the use of Dremel on. I left the inlay thick so I can do the bevel work. I have the glues & making a tool for the scribe work. Q? Since the inlay will be lightly glued to the wood, How do I get the acetone to hit the glue on bottom of inlay? I understand the router setting, don't have a base yet, but will be ready. During the "Clean-Up," process, is that where I might use some of my Shell dust around the inlay so the stain will stay?

TO: Robby: I'll have a good back-up for the sanding.

Thanks guys

[LeatherWood]

Hope the diagram shows. So, the white is my shell, its beveled and the Red rectangle is wood where the shell will be inlayed. The shell is temp glued to the wood and the yellow dots indicate the angle that the outline of scribe work will be done. Am I close to understanding this? Or, should the bottom of the shell outline cut be made with the bottom of the yellow dots (cut angle) going more in-board ?

" Click the image to Enlarge "

[sebastiaan56]

Lookin good! This is just an assumption from the drawing just posted but I suggest that you keep the edges of the shell square. If you need to take the surface of the finished piece further down you will end up with a gap between the shell and the timber. You can get away with this gap when you are using ebony and black epoxy but it much more difficult with other timber combinations.

[LeatherWood]

Sbastiann56,

Thanks for the suggestion, I plan to try my next practice inlay with squared edged shell. I haven't been given one suggestion that hasn't made since. Thing is, each suggestion has a perfect place within a certain environment such as the material being used and the skill level of the craftsman. I have no excuses so far, each mistake has been a step in the right direction as I'm listening to what all have to say after all, you're all trying to help me. I think that trying to scribe/cut the outline of my shell into Oak was like that scene in "Jaws," where Roy Schneider looked over and saw Jaws raise his big head, show his teeth and Roy said, "I think we're going to need a bigger boat!"

Oak just laughed at my Exacto knife/scribe and trying a pencil outline, well, just didn't have the skill level to pull it off, but I Did Learn some things. So, Thank You. In a few minutes if, all works out, I'll post 4 pics of my first attempt to do inlay on practice Oak and Oyster shell.

Thank You.
P.S.
I don't seem to be able to cut & paste text into the message fields, is that on my end or just the way the site is set up to not allow cut/paste into message/reply fields?

[LeatherWood]

Some pics showing my first attempt to inlay shell into Red Oak. My cavity was to large. However, I remembered to save wood filings to pack into the open areas. Still its best to do it right. Now, I'm getting bored with my shell designs & haven't even Inlaid them yet, is that how it works? ha, ha.

Q:? Still have a question about using saw dust. If you have to pack some around the shell edges, how can you get the wood stained with out brushing the saw dust away. If you epoxy the saw dust, the stain doesn't set?

[LeatherWood]

To Peter Wright,

My 1st attempt didn't result in a very fine cavity, but that is just me learning the ropes, so to speak & how my dremel works. I'm going to try a piece without bevel to get the feel of that, then do another beveled piece. Perhaps I'll learn how to use both processes with different environments. I'll also say, your tip about using contrasting chalk in the scribe/outline cut is Right On! Thank You.

[sebastiaan56]

Originally Posted by LeatherWood

Q:? Still have a question about using saw dust. If you have to pack some around the shell edges, how can you get the wood stained with out brushing the saw dust away. If you epoxy the saw dust, the stain doesn't set?

That is going to be difficult unless you can make some dust from some stained timber. If you have an even gap around the edges you could fill with dark epoxy.