|
You don't need a panograph or any fancy tools to do precise inlay work....all you need is a drimel or fordom tool and a good exacto knife with sharp blades...The key element here is lots of patience..
First ,determine what your perameters are --- what your design will be... Cut this pattern out of thin nickle silver, here is where a good coping saw with fine teeth comes in handy... when you have your pattern cut out and exactly the way you want it , using a small amount of 5 minute epoxy (devcon ) glue the pattern where you want it.... when it's set, take your exacto knife with a fine point and cut around your pattern .... I hold the blade straight up and down and push the blade down into the wood about an eighth of an inch taking very small steps around my pattern... Once I've got a good clean cut all the way around my pattern, I heat a piece of scrap 440-C and hold it down on my nickle silver pattern until it comes loose--taking care not to harm my wood with the heat...Then glue the form to your pearl or what ever you plan on using , scribe around it and using your coping saw cut it out..... Let me say one thing here about your inlays.. You can draw around your form on a thin piece of micarta or some such materials then fill in the pattern with various pearl, abalone silver -- all kinds of things-- once all the pattern is covered, epoxy the nickle silver pattern on that .... scribe around it , use the heat to take the pattern off , Coping saw, cut out inlay... now here is where we seperate the impatient from the patient...
You have to take out the material that's keeping your inlay out of its intended destination...I use a fordom tool with a round arber.. I will take away everything up to a sixteenth of an inch away from my line... then using a sharp chisel blade I'll clean it all out leaving a clean hole where my inlay will press in easily after a little cut here and there..... There's a thousand ways to do this and after 30+ years of doing it I've come to this conclusion- don't be afraid to scrap it and start over the key is patience...Lloyd
__________________
Lloyd Hale
|