Hi,
Back to wire inlay. Hugh uses fine silver and for good reason, it tarnishes much more slowly than sterling because it has little or no copper content. However, there is a down side to fine silver of which folks should be aware. You need to be careful when you file it flush with the wood. If your file or stone is too coarse and you file across the wire, fine silver will shred and leave fuzzy edges. You should try to file or stone along the ribbon to the extent possible. If you are using sterling, don't file it completely flush with the wood. Let it sit proud of the wood just enough so you can feel it when you rub your hand over the stock. By doing that, you can polish the sterling bright again by using a very soft rag, I use an old cotton sock, charged with a very, very tiny amount of Simichrome polish.
In the photos below I use sterling wire and fine silver inlays, and brass wire and mother of pearl, bone, and copper inlays to create color contrasts. The first gun had not tarnished enough when the photos were taken to really see how the sterling wire has a more steel gray color and the fine silver inlays are gleaming white. It becomes a very handsome effect over time.
On this gun I do the same thing but with brass wire and inlays. The brass tarnishes quickly and the inlays have a contrasting radiance that is very attractive.
Finally, I mentioned fine silver wire can have fuzzy edges if you are not careful filing it. Here is an example in which I intentionally did that to create a fuzzy flame effect to the silver wire coming from the comet.
dave
