# Inlay my way



## barry richardson (Mar 26, 2015)

@Tony started a thread asking about inlay, I figured I would respond here since it is a quick and dirty tutorial. Tim explained how he uses CA, and Bangle Guy posted a nice video a while back on inlay, this is my technique, although I'm doing a turned piece here, it works as well on flat work:


 
This picture is pretty much every thing you need, (other than a sander to smooth everything up) The rock crusher is a 1.5 x 4 nipple with an end cap and a piece of rod. But in a pinch you can just tap the rock on an anvil surface. Or you can get it already fine crushed like the small square packet which is turquoise, but it is pricey. The tube above is chrysocolla, which is blue-green in color, rocks to the right are turquoise chips. Today I'm using the light blue turquoise. I usually ad some pigment to the resin along with the crushed stone. Artist oils or acrylics work great. It I have enough fine stone dust in my mix, I skip the pigment. If I use it, a dot smaller than a match head is plenty. I usually use 5 minute epoxy, but slow set is fine too and gives you more working time. My MO is as follows; Put about a thumbnail size dollop each of resin and hardener in the cup, add crushed stone, dip the tip of my stir stick in the paint tube, and mix it all up. I add enough crushed stone till the mix gets pasty thick, then go to work filling cracks. I male a spatula stick that i can spread, and work it into the cracks with the point and edge. Depending on how much you have to fill, it may take several batches, one big batch will set up too fast and you will waste material. If I have a large hole to fill, I put a couple of layers of masking tape on the backside to keep the fill from pushing through.



 
Here is the piece after applying the filler. The cracks in this were no more than 1/8 wide and most were much less, you have to pile up the filler above the surface contour a bit, if you try scraping it level before it's set, you will pull material out of the crack. To level it after it's set (I give it at least an hour or so) I use cheap files, or old files, sometimes a rasp, but they are pretty aggressive so you have to be careful not to gouge the underlying wood. I find a half-round bastard is about the best for general leveling, the combination rasp in the first pic works well too.


 

here is a patch I smoothed, I was in a hurry so I left some scratch marks, I will smooth it up latter with a finer file and sanding. I use a 5"ROS for sanding, starting with what ever grit is necessary, usually 150. Sanding alone, without out filing down the media first, takes forever and eats up sandpaper like crazy.
That's all for now, more to follow....

Reactions: Like 8 | Thank You! 1 | Way Cool 2 | Informative 3 | Useful 1


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## manbuckwal (Mar 26, 2015)




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## Molokai (Mar 26, 2015)

Subscribed


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## Kevin (Mar 26, 2015)

Barry thanks. I had also started a thread asking about this so it's quite timely. Thanks for doing it.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Wilson's Woodworking (Mar 26, 2015)




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## DKMD (Mar 26, 2015)

Hand to forehead moment... I never thought to use a file to smooth things out. Thanks!

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Tony (Mar 26, 2015)

Thank you Barry, very helpful stuff! Tony


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## barry richardson (Mar 26, 2015)

Got some more time to work on it today, I'm ready to start sanding now. There are a few pin holes and areas that need touched-up, But I will do most of the sanding first cause the sanding may expose more areas that need touched up, and I only want to do it once. For touch up, I mix some epoxy with pigment or very fine powder. If the hole is large enough I will dip an appropriate sized piece of stone in the epoxy and insert if into the hole, tap it in with a scrap of wood if necessary, for very small voids or where the cracks taper to super thin, I dip a tooth pick in the resin and apply it. I will smooth the repair areas with a file again, or if it is only resin, shave it off with a sharp chisel. 


 
If you don't have any files you want to sacrifice (cause the stone will dull them for metal work) Harbor freight sells a 3 pack for something like ten bucks that would do nicely, I have a plethora of them from garage sales and such... Smoothing out all the fill on this piece took about 30 minutes, and it has cracks and voids all the way around it. another "nice to have" is a file card to clean the file if it loads up, I will try and find mine for a pic. With luck I will get it sanded tomorrow and get a first coat of finish on it...

Reactions: Thank You! 3 | Way Cool 2 | Informative 1


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## DLJeffs (Mar 27, 2015)

Very cool Barry. Thanks. I guess one could use the same procedure on flat work as well, huh? (The wheels are turning and churning).


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## barry richardson (Mar 27, 2015)

DLJeffs said:


> Very cool Barry. Thanks. I guess one could use the same procedure on flat work as well, huh? (The wheels are turning and churning).


Absolutely. But if you have infill in the middle of a large flat area, it's hard to get at it with a file. I recommend knocking down the fill material as much as you can with a file, then use a card scraper for the rest. Yea the stone will dull them after a bit, but they are easy to sharpen...


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## barry richardson (Mar 28, 2015)

All sanded up and a coat of danish oil on it now, you can use the finish of your choice, I will ultimately use spray lacquer, I like to use the DO first cause it seems to me it helps the lacquer lay down better and not orange peel (could be my imagination) Do is also an easy finish for the inside, pour some in, slosh it around, pour out the excess, that's all I use on the inside.


 

 
this concludes my tutorial  thank you

Reactions: Like 3 | Thank You! 3 | Way Cool 5


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