Mr.Cowles
I've see that in your "pearl spear" (hope you don't mind me posting this pic)you have MOP inlaid in the bolster, I was wondering how you do this?

http://www.cowlesknives.com/Knives/DC_FxdBld-PSpear-704.jpg


Heres the method I use for doing an inlay like this(round)

- machine with an endmill the recesses for the inlay
- cut a square piece of the material to be inlaid just a tad larger than the recess.
-super glue this piece to a hard wood dowel the same dia. as the recess about 5" long
- on my belt grinder I carefully grind the inlay material as round as I possibly can and a little over sized
- now I chuck up the dowel in my drill press. using a file I trimm until I get a snug fit in my recess.(file and fit,file and fit)
-once the piec is fit I leave it on the dowel until it ready to be set in the knife.
ounce the piece is glued into place I cut off the dowel and
finish up.


I just want to know how you and others do this.
Always interested in learning new things.

Thanks
Eric

Eric, Culpepper sells round discs in millimetre sizes. Purchase the appropriate size metric drills, drill a hole,check fit of pearl, add epoxy and you are done.

What George said. I use epoxy, mount the inlay proud of the surface, and dress it flush with files, then finish sand/polish. As a former luthier (guitar maker), I still have a good supply of the pearl and abalone dots used for decorating fretboards. Easier to use than turning your own down from flat stock.

For non-circular shapes, it gets a *whole* lot harder (unless you are using a pantograph). I use a dremel with a modified router base, a carbide dental bur (it's spelled correctly), and a fair bit of cussing. I'll post a picture here of a more complex inlay I cut out for a guitar peghead in a couple of days. Making a mortise to accept it is quite a challenge.

Don,
Your background is really interesting. I see another parallel in our history. Back in the 70's I worked after hours as a luthiers apprentice, and also spent a little time with a fiddle maker.

Wow, guitar makers, I never really got into the end of making guitars even though I had the chance to learn, knives seemed to rule for some reason. Clif Lenderman who owns Cooper knives makes some of the finest guitars I have ever seen. I do play a little when I have time.

I have had nothing but bad luck trying to bring my guitars with me on airplanes, but it sure would be great if a bunch of us could get together in Atlanta during the Blade show and pick a few tunes. Maybe we could rent or borrow some? Alex, any ideas?

I play guitar too!!!!!!
I've been playing since I was tweleve or so, electric,Acoustic you name it!!My personal guitars are not spectacular, but my dad who plays also has a 25 year old Martin Co. D18.SWEEET

Don,
I'd love to see some pics of guitars you have made.

BTW
Thanks everyone for the replys too,
I know of a few local guitar makers , I think I will call around and see what I can come up with. I never thought about this before, the soloution to my question was at my finger tips!!

Heres a scan of the knife I inlaid yesterday,I'm in the process of Finishing it today so its a little rough yet.
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=898333&a=6541250&p=43716226&Sequence=0&res=high

Inlays are pearl and raidrop mokume by Clint Ellery

Eric

Oh man ... don't tell me you can make a guitar, too!

Hawkins has two and a banjo ... I've only got one now ... electric, but I doubt anyone here is into the type of stuff I play. Well, I guess I can actually play anything, but you know. I might have to look at someone run through the chord progression once, if you guys are playing country or classical.

Funny story ... I was invited to play with a band in college that was covering REM, Costello and some other wierd stuff, so I went over to listen in. I remember thinking "man, these guys are going nowhere fast". So I said, "hey, I appreciate the invite, but I'll stick to the Sabbath and Floyd, that's where the money is." Well, four years later when we were getting close to the end of things, guess who was still playing all the local nightclubs with the chicks and groupies and paychecks? Not me ... :( Learned a good lesson though ... "if it's not on the radio, they ain't buying it!"

Rade Hawkin's son, Rusty, is one of the best voices around. Anyone ever heard of Steve Perry? That's what he sounds like!

Let's jam ...

Alex

I'm ready!

I finally got around to posting this pic- it is a mosaic peghead inlay I cut out several years ago for a mandolin- never did finish it, but thought you might find it interesting. It is mother of pearl and abalone, and either 18 or 19 separate pieces. Lots of work.

http://www.cowlesknives.com/forumpix/inlay.jpg

Don that is AMAZING...
How would you do about creating the Mortise for such a complex shape?

with a Dremel tool, a router base, and a dental bur. Lots of sweat. An Xacto knife to clean up the sharp corners.

Yeap, you still 'the man'.:D
Just out of curiousity , what are the dimensions of that inlay work?

About 5" tall by less than 2" wide.