Wire inlay info

The other night in the Paltalk room we had a pretty good discussion about wire inlay. While the guys were talking I did a websearch, and came up with the following information. Enjoy!

Wire Inlay is a type of decoration with what appears to be a thin wire, usually silver wire inlayed
into the solid materials. It is actually a small ribbon of silver that is inlet edgewise and only the
very edge of the ribbon is exposed, appearing like wire. This is done with small hand made
chisels. I made my set from an old hacksaw blade. Broken into 2-inch lengths and shaped and
sharpened on the end these tools make the recess or cut for the wire ribbon. Sharpened with a
double bevel, some are straight and others have a curved filed into their cutting edge. They are
small chisels that form a slot in the wood to receive the wire inlay. After carefully laying out and
marking the surface the chisels are driven straight into the wood to a uniform depth of less than
1/8th inch. I have small shoulders ground on both sides of the chisels that are the same as the
required depth and provide a visual depth stop. The slot is made by repeatedly pounding the
small chisel squarely into the wood, using a straight chisel for straight work and curved chisels
for curves. Smaller tighter curves are done with curved, narrow chisels always held
perpendicular to the surface being inlayed. Once all of the cuts are made, the silver ribbon is
formed to shape and cut to length. The ribbon should be a uniform width and its thickness will
be how wide the inlay will be. The width should correspond to the depth of cut that the chisel
will make. The wide sides of the ribbon are roughened with a file or sandpaper and the surface
etched with a clove of garlic. The garlic allows the metal to be glued with hide glue. Hide glue
is placed on the metal and it is carefully driven into the slots created by the chisels. Don?t put
glue in the slot as it is just compressed wood, no wood was removed, and will swell shut if too
much glue gets to the wood fibers. I carefully pound the ribbon into the wood until it just is just
proud of the surface and allow the glue to dry. The moisture in the hide glue swells the wood
fibers tight around the roughened wire ribbon to securely hold in place. I wipe it down with a
wet rag to clean off the excess glue and the moisture also swells the wood making the inlay tight.
Once it is completely dry, the wire can be sanded or scraped smooth. Yes you can use a cabinet
scraper to smooth off the soft metal. You can also file, I recommend that you draw file to roduce
the smoothest surface on the wire inlay. The wire will show scratches from sanding, so you will
have to sand the metal with much finer sandpaper. Also remember the metal is harder than the
wood and it is sometimes difficult to get both materials to the same level and degree of finish.
Horsetails or scouring rushes (Equisetum spp.) can also be used to smooth and polish the
wire flush to the surface. I also burnish the wire with a hard metal burnisher to a mirror finish
after it is smoothed level to the surrounding wood.

Steve
www.stevescutlery.com

Does anyone have a source for the wire inlay ribbon?


Bob Sigmon

I would suspect Rio Grande jewely supply would have everything one would need to do this. Here is a super fine example of tedious inlay. www.knifeart.com/insilinbow.html
Don't double click on the photo, it will enlarge it and cause your chin to hit your chest.LOL

Steve
www.stevescutlery.com

Just a gorgous piece of work SIR!!

Allen Eldridge does awesome silver wire inlay. I watched a demo he did at the 2000 Spirit Of Steel show and he was very good at explaining how and why he does each step. There is a lot to learn when it comes to blending two pieces together so you can't see one piece end, they just seem to flow together. It is time consuming but when done correctly really adds a lot to the knife.

Here is some of Allen's work on one of Gene Osborn's folders:

Allen Eldridge has done it for me for years. He started in the sixties( of course I was just a boy then) He used to teach it at the bladesmithing symposiums.He has a how to video on the subject, and he makes and sells starter kits to get started.
He rolls the silver to the desired thickness, and I grind and make the chisels.
The knife above was done by Allen.(it sold last week)
He does a wonderful job and charges very reasonably.
He has no internet capacity, but he can work a phone OK.
Call Allen at 817 370 7778, He can answer questions and send you a kit to get started, with a teaching video.

ive built museum quality flintlock longrifles for 20 years..
and ive used this gentelmans method on the last two
i did..and it works very well...one caution...DONOT
LET YOUR CHISEL GET DULL....YOU CANT IMAGINE
WHAT HAPPENS...ITS UGLY!