I was just wondering if anyone had experience doing wood inlay on a blank. My thought was to put some curved stringers in, sort of making a mirrored sin wave across the center stringer. I would guess that I would just cut a groove and use some thin basswood to glue inside the groove, but I'm not sure. Any information would be great. Thanks
I haven’t heard of anyone inlaying wood, although in the early '60s curved full stringer glue ups were pretty popular for awhile. It seems to me that it could be done, but I would be inclined to glass the board first, and try for any inlays under the filler coat. You will still need to lay some new glass over the inlay…
Lasersailor,
Inlays have been discussed in a few threads. You might try searching Jim Phillips, Cleanlines or Herb Spitzers names.
The few that I have done, I did, exactly as you described. They, however, were simple designs - shamrock logo. I used a router to do the cut, sealed the wood, glued it to the board, and laminated. Have not tried doing the inlay after laminating, but in might be a lot safer.
Curved stringers through the board are another kettle of fish. The difficult part is making sure you get the cuts vertical. There is a thread in which Jim Phillips discusses the process. Two times I have done this I used a hand saw, square, and a level. It took ages to make the cuts. The last time I used a band saw and a jig - much easier but still tricky.
Lasers are a fun boat!
Patrick
Thanks, whenever I can find the time I'll give it a try. One more question though, what would be the problems associated with doing the inlay before glassing? It sounds like it would be more trouble to cut through the glass and reglass over it, so I must be missing something. And about the laser, I've caught more waves with it than I have with a board. Thanks again,
Jeff Sharp
I have done some inlays, but not quite like you described. However, I did learn a couple of things on the ones I did, and you got me to thinking…
If I was going to do a curvy fake stringer, this would work: First, make your curved veneer or whatever you are going to use. I’d use at least 3/32" to 1/8" wood. Cut it with a bandsaw or saber saw and clean it up with a belt sander, and by hand until it looks right. Bevel the two outside edges so the bottom of the piece of wood is just slightly narrower than the topside.
Lay the wood on the foam where you want it to go, and use a very sharp pencil to lightly draw the outline of the bottom side of the wood onto the foam. Next, using a razor blade, cut along the line cutting at the same depth as the wood.
Then carefully pop out the foam between the lines you just cut. Lay the wood into the groove to check and make adjustments if necessary. When it’s right, paint a little catalyzed resin into the bottom of the groove. It’s best not to have any resin “squeeze out”, so only use enough resin to hold it down. 5 minute epoxy will also work. Set the wood in and press it down so it’s flush with the surface of the foam. The beveled shape of the wood will make a tight fit.
Now you’re ready to glass. Doug
I’ve seen those sine wave inlay stringers done with a router and a template. -Carl
i’m planning to do a curved wood inlay on a fairly distant project…maybe 5 or 6 boards down the line. lemme know how it goes.
‘Thanks, whenever I can find the time I’ll give it a try. One more question though, what would be the problems associated with doing the inlay before glassing? It sounds like it would be more trouble to cut through the glass and reglass over it, so I must be missing something.’
lasersailor, if you feel you are a competent enough craftsman, go for it. Myself, I’ve never done anything like that and I would need the shape safely glassed first in case anything went wrong: ie the foam edge broke, any glue overspill stained the foam, or the mix set too early or too late. For a job like that I would probably masking tape down the inlay after fitting, and tape would grip a glass job better than raw foam.
Thanks for all the feedback. I am going to try it, but in a bit different context. Since I'm stuck here at the Naval Academy, and can't find a decent place to set up shop, I'm going to get my shaping fix on a 2'-3' mini longboard, biggest thing I can fit through the cieling tiles to store in the roof, I'll try the inlayed stringers with either thin basswood or balsa, and I guess I'll shape with a knife and dremmel, and glass with 3/4 oz. Really want to try a full size board at some point. I've had some experience doing inlays in other things, as my dad is a shop teacher (strip plank canoes ect.). Reading the posts on this site have got me stoked to finally try shaping, so I figure a model is better than nothing. Thanks
Here is a rough sketch of what I'm thinking, I've decided on around 2'6", for storage reasons. Going to see what I can find for foam this weekend, and start shaping the thing. Once again, thanks for the help.
tooling after the glass is down the foam is less likely to get mutilated and laying in the wood proud of the hole you can sand to surface and lay another layer of glass that will back fill flaws in technique… I always like the idiot proof fail-safe built into the method as I am basicly a sloppy impulsive guy and with the fail safe I can show my stuff rather than hide in the shadows with my acute awareness of the mess,…ambrose … models are cool …Ive rode a couple waves on a laser and fell off with my wife as balast up forward talking to me like I was still on the boat as she rode away with the sheet and the tiller finding its own way,1973