Walnut V-Inlays

[sawmillsam]

Some of my tries at V-inlays, little lizard is 6 inches long.

Love the detail you can get, but there is a limit with my walnut, seems to chip on the little parts on the male too easily, wrecking the effect.

[MTSO]

They are really cool, your'e right the detail is very fine. Are they chopping boards?. I must try some inlays, my brother wants me to do some for the electric guitars he makes. How long did it take you to perfect your way of doing them?.

Regards

Brian

[sawmillsam]

Thanks. Naw, they're just trial runs. I guess the big one could be turned into a cutting board. Grape seed oil finish on both.

It took me a few tries to find which wood would hold up and to fine tune the settings, but overall the method is fairly easy. Of course I haven't yet tried double and triple inlays like some of the pros on this forum.

Here is a photo of one of my failures, can't seem to keep the ridges on the male inlay when it gets too thin. The swirls in the water just didn't stick and some other small details.

[MTSO]

Maybe its the way the grain is going?. Still, very detailed. Was the ship male piece jist one piece or many pieces?.

[sawmillsam]

Yes, most likely the grain direction affects tearout, as well as cutter sharpness and material, specific type, density and quality of wood, speed and depth of the cut. Lots of variables. Tried 'sneaking up' on the cut but didn't notice a whole lot of difference in this case. Haven't tried HSS bits, supposed to have a sharper edge than carbide which might make a difference. Yes, the male inlay walnut was done in one piece. For this piece I think I just need to do it about double the size, and could maybe retain all the detail then. Those failed inlays are only 1/32" (0.03) wide, so glue and time could affect results when sanding off the excess, too. Maybe I needed to be a little more patient. I used Titebond II for glue.

[iltws2]

This is just my 2 cents. Try a thin coat of epoxy on walnut. reverse order of toolpath's. v-bit first, then clear out tool second. Helps for me.