Inletting into highly figgured maple

[Turtle]

 Any suggestions as to better ways to get a clean inlet on the highly figured  old piece of tiger stripe maple? I am using real sharp chisels, skew chisels, and slicing with a knife where I can, but still am not satisfied. This stuff is hard as a rock, brittle,  with confused grain. I have done other highly figured maple inletting, but this piece is something else!
                                           thanks, Turtle

[sz]

every now and then I get a piece that just won't cut, so I make small files with medium-coarse teeth to do the inletting on such wood.

I take small pieces of 1095 steel and hand cut the cross lines into them with a sharp chisel. The pieces of steel are usually only 3/8 to 1/2 wide and about 3/4 long, shaped as they need to be for whatever job I need them for.  I set the teeth with a chisel and then I braze them to a piece of 1/4" or 3/8" steel as a handle.  The steel is red hot from the braze joint, and as soon as it goes below the molten point I quench them in water.  They come out very sharp and will last for quite a long time.  If they ever get too dull I just make a new one.

[smart dog]

Hi Turtle,
With figured maple you have to really pay attention to the direction of the grain and which direction cuts cleanly and which causes the chisel to chip or gouge deeply.  That said, having scary sharp tools is the only other advice I can give.  When sharp, my knives, gouges, and chisels will shave hair cleanly off my arm.  I have a simple but effective sharpening system.  I place 3-M micro-film abrasive sheets on a smooth polished granite tile (from Home Depot) and sharpen my tools.  My final grit is probably the equivalent of about 6000 grit ceramic stone. Each portion of a sheet lasts a long, long time before needing to be replaced. Then I polish my tools using a leather strop charged with simichrome polish. 

dave

[WadePatton]

every now and then I get a piece that just won't cut, so I make small files with medium-coarse teeth to do the inletting on such wood.

I take small pieces of 1095 steel and hand cut the cross lines into them with a sharp chisel. The pieces of steel are usually only 3/8 to 1/2 wide and about 3/4 long, shaped as they need to be for whatever job I need them for.  I set the teeth with a chisel and then I braze them to a piece of 1/4" or 3/8" steel as a handle.  The steel is red hot from the braze joint, and as soon as it goes below the molten point I quench them in water.  They come out very sharp and will last for quite a long time.  If they ever get too dull I just make a new one.

Sweet, i knew I saved that banding for a high-carbon application!

[kaintuck]

sharper tools................and use slice motions........shave instead of cutting~ if that makes sense.............
marc n tomtom

[Joe S]

Get a spray bottle, fill it with half water and half alcohol.  Lightly mist the area you’re cutting on.  This will help a lot.

[dogcatcher]

Get a spray bottle, fill it with half water and half alcohol.  Lightly mist the area you’re cutting on.  This will help a lot.

X2