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Went for it on my 1st kit. (D18 style Blues Creek Kit) after making a couple of practice wooden bookmarks from rosewood scrap. . Gaps were invisible after filling with finish and sawdust in the rosewood but showed up in the Pau Ferro overlay. Live and learn. Love it.

Great job!

This is why I like to use an ebony overlay on peg-heads. It's really easy to hide mistakes. Yours looks good though, I wouldn't worry about at all.

I use ebony as well, except if a client needs something else. I can tell you how to hide that dark area on your inlay. Assuming you've not applied finish yet, you can use dye to color the surrounding wood a little darker, which will minimize your fill.

I prefer water based aniline dye over oil based wood stain. You can find dark brown dye at a woodworking store like Woodcraft, or at Amazon. Dyes come in a concentrated liquid or powder form. Just follow the directions to dilute it.

You simply apply it over the whole headplate. Don't worry. It won't dye your inlay. It also won't dye your filled area; it'll only darken the rest of the untreated wood. Usually one application is enough, but you may need to apply it 2x. Just do it until the rest of the headplate matches your fill.

Works like a charm.

Here is an inlay that I did yesterday. It's in rosewood and I filled a bit. I know your fill is quite a bit darker with the pau ferro and you probably don't want it that dark, but if you darken it a little, you'll minimize the fill areas

I hope this helps.

That is beautiful!

I did apply shellac to this but may sand it off and try the dye. I do like the head-stock color on this kit so not quite sure. I really appreciate the advice as always! I'd like to keep your photo in case I try something bigger on my next project.

I'm pretty happy with it even w/ the brown bits. I thought of cutting a bigger piece to fit the hole but didn't realize how much the fill would pop out. I had to fill a bit in the end graft on the mahogany body too and that came out great. I learned later why the thing is triangle shaped to help eliminate those when installing.

Thanks for posting the amazing torch. My daisy petals were inspired by the individual pieces in the classic designs like this. I've had Larry Robinson's "The Art of Inlay" on my bedside table for too long. Finally got started.

nice to see people doing this craft.
there are many ways to do this so use the technique that works best for you. I learned
to inlay with David Nichols and Dale Trach at Martin

jread wrote:That is beautiful!

I did apply shellac to this but may sand it off and try the dye. I do like the head-stock color on this kit so not quite sure. I really appreciate the advice as always! I'd like to keep your photo in case I try something bigger on my next project.

I'm pretty happy with it even w/ the brown bits. I thought of cutting a bigger piece to fit the hole but didn't realize how much the fill would pop out. I had to fill a bit in the end graft on the mahogany body too and that came out great. I learned later why the thing is triangle shaped to help eliminate those when installing.

Thanks for posting the amazing torch. My daisy petals were inspired by the individual pieces in the classic designs like this. I've had Larry Robinson's "The Art of Inlay" on my bedside table for too long. Finally got started.

You're welcome. I only wanted to show how the shadowing (darker areas of fill) can be camouflaged a bit, because there is some fill around a couple areas of the torch. When I have a choice, I always inlay into ebony, which doesn't have the fill issues.

Your design turned out really nice.

you guys are kind, this forum has been a deep source of info. My goal of upping my game seems to be happening.