Wire inlay problems. Need advice

[Rolf]

This is my last practice round on the wire inlay design. It's done with 0.012" x 0.06" pure silver wire.

1.How do you get the curls on the end of the wines consistently even? Sometimes I get them reasonably even. Other times the chisel insists following the grain in the wood and ruins the flow of the curve.

2. I do the first cut as lightly as possible with a 1/16" chisel. If you do a mistake, how do you repair it? If I try to correct it with another cut, slivers fall out.



Best regards
Rolfkt

[P.Bigham]

The type of wood you are using for the pratice piece may be part of the problem it looks like it has a lot of grain to It. You might be to hard on yourself It looks good to me.

[Tom Currie]

Rolfkt, I think you're doing really but regarding the ends of your curls, I'de punch them in with a tighter radius gouge. That's being picky but I know you are too.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Your practice block looks like either ramin or furniture grade walnut.  And your attempting to lay it out across the grain.  Use close grained hard wood, and lay your practice pattern (if that's the way your stick floats) lengthwise with the grain.  When you make your chisels, use a 3/32" chain saw file to create a 3/32" wide sweep, filing the back side to make the same curve as the concave part, and finish up your little curls with it.  You can make a number of these in 3/32, 1/8, etc.  But a 1/16" flat chisel will create tight curls too.  You have done well to place your dots so that the flow of the outside of the curve continues with the edge of the dot.

[Dave B]

Rolfkt,
You lookin good with what you have here. The only other sugestion I would have is not to fully sink you wire so you can true it up before the final tap down. The irregularities in your Volutes is due to wire drift. You need to use a small punch to adjust the bumps out of the wire while its only a 64th  proud of the wood then knock it home. You will have removed those unsightly little kinks in them with out any trouble.

[tallbear]

Rolfkt
I don't know how much of a collection of carving chisels you have but sometimes I use them to set the radius es.When I do my wire and my carving I stamp a very light imprint with the gouge of the proper radius.This gives a perfect radius for my small chisels to follow.Use the same gouge on both side of the design and they should come out the same.
 I also find that using wire that has some spring to it make a smother design.I use sterling.The fine silver might be a little soft unless you work harden it a little.The springier wire doesn't kink as much.

Mitch

[Acer Saccharum]

Rolfkt,
You lookin good with what you have here. The only other sugestion I would have is not to fully sink you wire so you can true it up before the final tap down. The irregularities in your Volutes is due to wire drift. You need to use a small punch to adjust the bumps out of the wire while its only a 64th  proud of the wood then knock it home. You will have removed those unsightly little kinks in them with out any trouble.

Wow, Dave, a million thanks for those little hints. Of course, of course, it makes perfect sense what you're saying, but for someone who's never inlayed wire before (like me) these tips are worth their weight in gold.

[Blacksmoke]

  Rolfkt-- Your choice of practice wood is ok-- the picture below is of a corner on the lid of the case for the "Masterpiece "rifle which is made out of solid American black walnut and I had no problem doing wire in it.  Dave B. has the correct solution for straightening up your scrolls.  Instead of using a punch I use a "burnishing" tool that I made out if an old screwdriver.  This is similar to the hand held burnishers that jewelers use to set stones. It is highly polished so you can work with the silver without marring it. Your choice of "fine" silver instead of "sterling" is also correct as "pure" silver does not tend to tarnish as readily as "sterling"--this because of the copper content in "sterling".   One other note-- your design in wire will only be as good as you draw and stab it in.  This will come with practice.   HT

[jwh1947]

Hugh, you can't fool me; you superimposed this with PhotoShop.  It is too neat. 

How 'ya been?

[Blacksmoke]

Wayne--  Thanks for the compliment--however I only wish that I had the talent to use PhotoShop the way you suggest!?  

[Acer Saccharum]

Wayne--  Thanks for the compliment--however I only wish that I had the talent to use PhotoShop the way you suggest!?  

Hugh, if you had the photoshop skills, you might be photoshopping entire rifles! Sell them before they are made! Newspaper headlines: Man makes killing on Virtual rifles. Who knows where this could end!

Hugh, you have no need to learn photoshop, not when your work looks so good. Thanks for the burnisher photo.
Tom