Simple & Easy Steps For Inlaying Wood By Hand
The Inlaying way helps to add contrasting material to any wooden object, such as a picture frame, or piece of furniture. The simple and the best way to inlay the wooden base by hand is mentioned below:
- Base And Inlay: The first step is to select the base and inlay, for that select a wooden object to decorate, such as a piece of furniture, or practice block. For the inlay, use any thin and flat material, such as wood veneer or a small cut of bone or ivory. The user can go for one dark and one light material that will create an attractive contrast and will also make gaps less noticeable between them.
- Cut: After selecting the material its time to cut the inlay into any simple shape. The user may already have a piece in the desired size and shape. If not, then saw it into a simple shape.
- Place The Inlay Piece: Temporarily place the inlay piece onto the base. Use the double-sided tape or a tacky glue. The user needs to do that because this will keep the inlaid piece to remain steady while tracing around the wooden base. Simply use a pencil to trace the outline of the inlay onto the wooden base.
- Sharp Knife: After the tracing is done than gradually start cutting into the traced lines with the help of the sharp knife. To get a groove start lightly scoring the wood. Once the groove is done, cut down further, now there is very little risk of knife getting slipped along the wood grain. It is highly advisable to only cut down the wood which is deep enough inlaid piece.
- Remove The Inlay: After the groove or the edge is established now its time to remove out the inlay from the wooden base. The user needs to be careful in not making the cut too deeply. Small and simple designs can be easily recessed with the help of hand tools like a router plane, chisel, or sharp knife. In case of the larger or even more complex recesses use power tools such as a laminate trimmer, Dremel, or a full-size router.
- Smooth: Smooth out all the recessed area with the help of a small piece of sandpaper this will help to flatten out the base and edges after the wood is removed.
- Check: In this step the user needs to check the inlay pieces for fitting. A tight fit is always considered as the best fit, so if the inlay piece can't get into place than gently hammer it in after applying glue.
- Wood Dust And The Glue: Thoroughly mix the glue and the wood dust which is sawdust created. The user can use any wood glue in case of wood or epoxy if for inlaying another material.
- Apply Glue: Apply the glue to the recess as well as to the bottom of the inlay and stick the pieces together. In order to properly push it down to the base of the recess carefully hammer the inlay gently.
- Final Adjustments: In case of the excess glue clean it off, but make sure not to remove the glue in the gap of the two materials. Incase the inlay is raised above the surface, that time sand it down until it becomes flush with the rest of the surface.