just a few little gaps

[yip]

 B/C! i hope this passes muster, i was hard to do sitting my own design.

[rich pierce]

It it fully inletted or is the inlay above the level of the wood?

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Keep going.  From the picture I see you've only inlet it half way in.  I enlarged the picture to fill a 20" screen.

[Daryl]

Small screen, eh.    I agree, though, it is a mite proud.

[smoke and flames]

You can stretch the metal to help fill the inletting gaps by lightly tapping the edge with a hammer  this will peen and stretch the shy edges outward

[bob in the woods]

Keep going until you have it fully inletted.  BTW- did you chamfer the edges ?   That really helps with getting a snug fit.

[yip]

 its a little proud, i have to do just a little more inletting, wish my luck

[Mike Brooks]

You can stretch the metal to help fill the inletting gaps by lightly tapping the edge with a hammer  this will peen and stretch the shy edges outward

Don't do this.

[yip]

?

[Stoner creek]

Inlet it flush and roll on. Those tiny gaps won’t likely be such a big problem in a year.
And do not take a hammer to the inlay please!

[Eric Krewson]

You can put a damp washcloth over the inlay and give it a little dry heat from a hot steam iron, this will close most of the gaps and keep them closed for the most part even after the wood dries back out.

[smoke and flames]

Mike  as an engraver with over 45 yrs experience,  i have done this stretching for years with no problem  first off do not do this in the wood but on an anvil or bench block  secondly anneal the metal so it moves without breaking  when finished just a bit of filing on the edges and you are done  easy peasy

[bob in the woods]

Mike  as an engraver with over 45 yrs experience,  i have done this stretching for years with no problem  first off do not do this in the wood but on an anvil or bench block  secondly anneal the metal so it moves without breaking  when finished just a bit of filing on the edges and you are done  easy peasy

Easy for you, with experience, but I've seen the results of some efforts by those with less or none, and it isn't pretty 

[smoke and flames]

Bob  you would be amazed on how easy it is to do  Light taps will move a lot of metal   With all the varied skills and abilities i have seen on this forum by the members.. its not rocket science  Try it sometime on a scrap piece

[Mike Brooks]

Mike  as an engraver with over 45 yrs experience,  i have done this stretching for years with no problem  first off do not do this in the wood but on an anvil or bench block  secondly anneal the metal so it moves without breaking  when finished just a bit of filing on the edges and you are done  easy peasy

I have built exclusively muzzleloading rifles for a living, but only for 42 years. So what the $#*! would I know?

[Scota4570]

Being a little proud of the wood it will tighten a bit more as it goes on due to the draft. 

This may be common knowledge. I now leave the sharp edge on bottom edge of the inlay from the final filing.   That edge will cut the wood and raise a tiny curl after test fitting.  I makes is much easier to know exactly where and how much wood to remove.  Also skip the greasy kid stuff for inletting black on the edges, use sharpie marker.  It will only transfer with high pressure contact areas, lessening false transfers. 

[smoke and flames]

Well Mike  please enlighten me..with all your years of experience, why to you object to my metal stretching technique

[Mike Brooks]

Well Mike  please enlighten me..with all your years of experience, why to you object to my metal stretching technique

Because in this particular application it's wrong.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I would just continue to inlet the silver until it is just slightly below the surface of the wood.  Inlays like this are usually fastened down with nails made from the same material as the inlay, with a countersink head formed on them and teeth cut with a sharp chisel.  Nails 1/4" long are adequate.  Once the inlay is secured, the wood and the silver are filed flush with each other and this removes the extra nail head leaving the countersink to secure the piece.
I have also been known to wriggle engrave the back side of the inlay and apply CA glue to it, staying well away from the edges (you don't want Ca oozing out of the inlet.) and then nailing it down.  Be careful not to dimple the inlay when nailing...inlay must remain as flat and true as possible, otherwise it's possible to file through a thin inlay when dressing it down with the wood.  Those dimples are likely what Mike is concerned about during a stretching session.  I have the same concern.

[smoke and flames]

I agree that imples woud be a problem  When I have one this the metal was still thicker and was not dressed down to the wood yet. Also I do not use a tiny punch to stretch the metal but a small flat hammer with overlapping taps to even out the surface while doing this.. its directional stretching while planishing    hopes this clears things up a bit

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I don't see any gaps even after enlarging the image, that won't close when the metal is inlet to full depth.

[kutter]

Planish it with the smooth slightly curved face of a hammer ,,don't punch it w/hammer and punch to stretch it out.
Do the hammer work on the back side of the inlay,,not the face if you are concerned with marking up the surface.
But done carefully, you can do the work on the face and not leave any marks behind. You are not hammering straight down as in punching,,but rather with deflecting blows of the hammer face to draw and push the metal where you want it to flow.

Anneal the inlay to more easily work on it.

Lay the inlay on an absolutely smooth, unmarked solid steel surface.
With directional hammer strokes you can move metal in any direction you want to.

Yes you will be ever so slightly thinning the piece as you have to get that metal from somewhere.
But the wide area that is planished and moved to extend an edge or point will thin that area very little.
It's not like taking a small dia punch to the very edge of the problem and pinching it to move it over.

[smoke and flames]

Kutter
You described the technique perfectly
Thanks

[smylee grouch]

If there was a gap and you were to stretch the inlay out to fill the gap, I'm assuming you are trusting the cut in the wood to be where you want it so as not to make the shape of the inlay "wonky" looking. I hope I stated that understandably. 

[smoke and flames]

You can de-wonk the edge of the inlay with a slight touch up using a small file   If i understand the wonked edge  but you can be pretty precise while moving the metal as Kutter described and you are not moving the metal very far