Help with wire inlay

[nchunter]

I'm trying wire inlay for the first time. Fortunately I was smart enough to try it on a practice board, not a gunstock, otherwise I'd be climbing the walls.

What's the trick to having wire running close to other wire, without having the small chunks of wood between the wire falling out?

[Acer Saccharum]

Taylor Sapergia did a tutorial on this once upon a time. I went looking for it, but did not find it. I think Ed Wenger did something on wire, too.

[Ed Wenger]

I didn't do a tutorial, but since Acer mentioned my name in vain, lol....

That can be a study, to say the least.  I've found that it helps to use a very sharp, very thin tool to make the initial cut in the wood.  I don't go deep at first, just enough to cut the wood fibers near the surface.  After that I use a small screw driver that I ground down to a slim profile to deepen the cut.  By small, I mean about an 1/8" wide.  Slim, but not so slim that you worry about breaking it in the cut.  I then gently open the cut with a thicker skew to accept the wire.

It's more problematic when you go perpendicular to the grain, not as much when you run parallel to the grain, so that can help when you're laying out the wire design.

If I get a chance over the weekend, I'll try to take some photos...  Hope that helps some.


      Ed

[Acer Saccharum]

In this photo, I am cutting in the profile of the carving. But I use the same tools and technique for making the wire groove. Like Ed, I make a shallow cut, then deepen it a pass at a time. Stab and roll to advance the tool.




Here are some close ups of the tools. The upper stabbings are the tool marks plunged straight in. It gives you an idea of the tool shape. The lower stabbings are the curves the same tools can make when rocked around a turn.

[nchunter]

Looks like I need to round the business end of my inlay chisels. I ground some out of exacto knife blades, but I made the square like a spade, not rounded like a shovel.

[jerrywh]

 I use the same type of chisels that Acer does and I think I use the same basic methods. I am reasonably sure that Mark silver does also. I do use a lot finer wire than most do because most of my work is on European and English guns and the ywere much more refined. I recomend the book put out by David Price on wire work. I found nothing wrong in that book. It is rare to find a book today that has no incorrect nethods. People will tell you stuff they don't even know . I think it is  ego thing. Mark silver is probably the best wire worker in this country today. I learned more from him in a ten minute conversation than anything else.

[Tim Crosby]

Taylor Sapergia did a tutorial on this once upon a time. I went looking for it, but did not find it. I think Ed Wenger did something on wire, too.

   It is in the Archives, see if this works:

 http://americanlongrifles.org/old_board/index.php?topic=51.msg253#msg253


 Tim C.


   

[moleeyes36]

Tim,

It doesn't work for me, I guess it's because it's the old board.  It asks for my username and password, but won't except the ones I use for this board.

Mole Eyes

[Acer Saccharum]

I just moved it over to this forum's Tutorials:

http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=31036.0

[kaintuck]

Yeah....and the guys didn't mention to have fully charged batteries in the magic wand, and stock up on pixie dust......and, you have to work it exactly on midnight under a full moon.....
Proper good inlay is the next step after engraving.......

It's sorcery and alchemy with voodoo mixed in........only THEN will it turn out right!

Marc......excuse me, I need to turn around three times clockwise now because I spoke the words.....

[nchunter]

Thanks everyone. Telling me to roll the cut, and to not try to go the full depth in one pass really helped. I'm not pulling chunks out now.

[bama]

Wallace did a class on wire inlay @ WKU one year. He had the rifle that he put all the wire into. That rifle has a ton of closely ran wire in it. I think he said that he used 10,000 ft of wire in that rifle. Not sure if that was an actual count or that it felt like it by the time he was through. I asked him how he kept the wood from breaking out from between the wire ran so close together. He told me that he cut the channels at different depths. Stairstepped so to speak, i am not sure that is all he did but the process make sense to me.

[Acer Saccharum]

I don't have much experience in running wires close together. I would say practice on a similar piece of wood until you get the feel of it.

Where wires meet at an angle: Taylor's advice of tapering the end of wire where it meets another makes such a big difference in the finished look.

[jerrywh]

 It has a lot to do with the wood you have just as carving does. That is why it is so important to select good wood. Selecting good wood is a study in itself.
It is much esier to do wire work on English walnut than on maple.

[smart dog]

Hi,
In the wire work below I have threads converging that can present problems with wood chipping away.  I dealt with that by keeping my tools razor sharp and stabbing in the lines in several steps.  However, one trick that helped was I left the inletting of the converging wire until after the other wires or wires were completely finished and filed flush.  Then I added the new converging wire.  The installed wire helped to strengthen the wood when stabbing in the new wire and having filed the old wire flush, I was able to see what was happening with the wood more clearly as I merged the new wire.

dave

[Sawatis]

One thing I found helpful on converging wires is to thin it...but I basically forge it thinner (cold of course  ) on a little anvil with a small crowned hammer...this not only tapers the wire, but work hardens it a but making it easier to slip in the cut...I let the flare remain a bit and make my cut a bit deeper up along the first wire...doesn't pull out.
Yep...takes a steady hand and lots of patience...cant rush wire!
John

[Blacksmoke]

nchunter:  Several years ago I wrote a series of articles for "Gunmaker" magazine - 5 articles for doing silver wire inlay and 5 for doing classic relief gunstock carving.  They are available from me on two seperate CD's @ $ 12 for the pair.  This what I have learned from such renown makers as J. Bivins and M. Mandarino - also the lessons that I have taught to myself.  I encourage anyone who has the skill to write their name not to be intimidated by doing silver wire inlay.  If you get started on the right road the going will not be difficult.
Hugh Toenjes