Holding Inlays While Inletting

[George F.]

I purchased a silver inlay for my Fowler from the "Chambers Group" Its pretty intricate, looks like an Owl's head on the top of the inlay, the center is a convex mirror and the bottom and sides are  an assortment of acanthus leaves. The back has a 1/4" round casting gate dead center for a screw from the underside of the wrist. What is the best, easy way to hold this in place so I can scribe/cut the inlay's outline in?   Thanks,  ...Geo.

[LynnC]

I generally temporarily stake down my inlays thru the mounting holes - but that doesn't help in this case.  I've never seen an inlay as you describe but I think if you decide to attach from the back side, I'd inlet the screw boss and fasten and scibe/inlet from there. Just my 2 cents.  Someone more knowledgable will surely chime in.........................Lynn

[Dave B]

George,
You are talking about the thumb piece wrist inlay are you not?
What you need to do is find the area that you wish to install it from where you will run the screw up through the bottom findthe the angle of the stud relative to where it will be through the wrist. It is important to make sure you have the angle right and that it is all centered on the mid line on the top of the wrist. Now drill the through hole for the stud screwand sink the inlay stud down into the top of the stock till the rest of the inlay starts to bottom
out on the wrist of the stock. I prefer to use inletting compound to get the out line of the thumb piece. You must make sure to have a draft filed on the top and bottom sections of the inlay, don't worry about the sides of the inlay in that they already have draft by virtue of the wrapping around affect. once you have some color contact around the edges now you can get to removing bulk material. I found that on detailed inlays you can't get the details tight enough to my liking with a pencil. Things are always moving and taking away wood is not a good idea unless you are sure it needs to go. I hate gaps.  I hope this makes sense

[George F.]

Well.... I just finished the thumb piece inlay. I drilled through the wrist into the casting lug and secured it with the 6-40 screw they supplied. I took a large sewing needle that I had, and sharpened the end to resemble a miniature chisel and staked the outline in. It turned out Okay. Now here's the real story. I center punched the lug and set the depth on my drill press so not to drill through it. Changed bits and drilled the proper tap hole... Since I didn't remember to re-set the depth on the drill press... you guessed it drilled right through.  Just as well it was the only 6-40 tap I had, and it not being a bottoming tap I was able to tap the threads all the way through. Luckily I have some jewelers silver solder, I can fill the hole..." And that's all I have to say about that Ollie"   ...Geo.