Headstock Thickness and Inlay Question

[Darryl Young]

I am not fooled by your trickery Mr. Young!
The "after" picture is obviously a different piece of wood!! I can tell by the different coloring!
I am certain its not simply an effect of the flash being on and off in the different pictures!

Ha! Yes, I did use a flash on the second picture and I probably shouldn't have (glare). Sure gave it a blue tint where the other light had a yellow tint. The rosewood is laying on the same piece of pine and you can see how it is a different color as well.

[Ken Hundley]

VERY nice job. I haven't tried inlaying anything that intricate yet, I just don't seem to have the accuracy in routing to make it look good. I do, however, have a couple of thoughts for you:

1) I can't remember if I have seen this here or somewhere else, but you can cut a very thin strip of tape and wrap one end of it around your router bit, and then back onto its self, creating a little tag or flag on the shaft of the bit. When you turn it on and spin the bit, the tag will act as a fan and blow all your dust off your work peice. Works perfectly, do it all the time. Wish I could remember where I saw that, would love to give credit where credit is due.

2) I have always used the dust of the wood I am setting into as a filler, but am careful not to jusrt sand over the peice I am inlaying. I keep some dust on hand separate. I have seen a couple people just sand over their first inlay, and then drip CA into the dust that packed the gaps. Works very well, except for the flecks of pearl mixed into the gap filling dust.

[darren]

from Frets.com/Frank Ford:

http://www.frets.com/FRETSpages/Luthier ... lflag.html

[johnnparchem]

I am surprised the flag does not unbalance the bit and cause it to wobble a bit.

[naccoachbob]

I love that flag idea! Gonna use that when/if I do any more inlay.
John, I think with the speeds involved, the somewhat rigidity of the bit, and the short length involved, the light weight of the "flag" might be negligible. I don't know, really, but it's got me thinking that way.
I really hope it's not a problem, as clearing the dust is a terrific problem for me.
I have to borrow .02 cents from Tony on this tho'.
Bob

[Tony_in_NYC]

I am not fooled by your trickery Mr. Young!
The "after" picture is obviously a different piece of wood!! I can tell by the different coloring!
I am certain its not simply an effect of the flash being on and off in the different pictures!

Ha! Yes, I did use a flash on the second picture and I probably shouldn't have (glare). Sure gave it a blue tint where the other light had a yellow tint. The rosewood is laying on the same piece of pine and you can see how it is a different color as well.

I had written a smart a$$ reply, but decided that new members of the forum might not know we are joking. I envy your inlay skills.

[Tony_in_NYC]

I love that flag idea! Gonna use that when/if I do any more inlay.
John, I think with the speeds involved, the somewhat rigidity of the bit, and the short length involved, the light weight of the "flag" might be negligible. I don't know, really, but it's got me thinking that way.
I really hope it's not a problem, as clearing the dust is a terrific problem for me.
I have to borrow .02 cents from Tony on this tho'.
Bob

I am marking that two cents in "The Big Book of People Who Owe Me Forum Bucks" You and Dave B are in there. OK...so its not that big of a book, but it has an impressive title!

The flag does not weigh enough to affect a wobble in the bit. You are not just moving the bit, you are moving the whole router. The bit is so short that the gram the tape might weigh isnt going to bend it so it would have to wobble the whole router or dremel. Plus, Frank Ford is a pretty smart guy. If he recommends this tip, its not going to cause you any problems.

[Ken C]

Darryl,

Looks like you got it! I'm guessing under finish, your small fills may be hard to see.

Regarding the headstock thickness, your new dimensions sound much better! I thought you were going to end up with a headstock thickness close to .75", which even if the tuning machines worked, would look a bit chunky. I don't see any problem with 0.585".

Ken

[Darryl Young]

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

I had 3 of my friends at work who are woodworkes look at the inlay. They thought it was perfect. I had to tell them where to look and what to look for and then they could see fill. So it's definitely not a great job cutting the channel for the inlay......but it is a tribute that if you don't have a large gap, the CA with color from a permanent marker trick works fairly well. Overall, I'm happy it turned out this good. I was afraid I might create an eye-sore. I didn't trust my skills enough to try inlay directly on the headstock. Figured if I messed up the inlay I could pitch the veneer and start over on another one.

Next time I will try tacking the inlay down with a tiny drop of CA or something. I think I could do much better on the fit if the inlay doesn't shift while tracing around it. I'm decent at staying on the line but seeing the line well and determining where the interference is preventing the fit are things I need to improve on. Some of the gaps were just areas I thought were interferring and removed wood and found out that wasn't the spot.

[Ken C]

Darryl,

I put a drop of thin CA on a piece of plastic, then dip in the tip of x-acto blade and touch the underside of the inlay. Not much glue is needed to hold the piece in place while you trace, and the inlay pops off easily when you slip the x-acto blade between the inlay and the wood.

Ken