# Inlay question



## mr. jinchao (May 3, 2011)

I have been looking for any info on doing inlays by hand. I havea basic idea of how to do it, but I want to use hand tools. I still don't have room for a roughter. 

How was this done before roughters? I assume there is a chisel involved and maybe mallet, but not sure if that is needed. I would mark the area, then chisel a little bit and clean the edges with the chisel again. :huh:

Any help would be great! Thanks for looking


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

mr. jinchao said:


> I have been looking for any info on doing inlays by hand. I havea basic idea of how to do it, but I want to use hand tools. I still don't have room for a roughter.
> 
> How was this done before roughters? I assume there is a chisel involved and maybe mallet, but not sure if that is needed. I would mark the area, then chisel a little bit and clean the edges with the chisel again. :huh:
> 
> Any help would be great! Thanks for looking


A general technique is to lay the inlay on the material. Mark the edge and the material in at least two places to orient the inlay's location. Use an X-acto knife with a #11 blade, and lightly make passes around the inlay until there is a score line.

I usually (depending on the thickness of the inlay) tip the knife inward a few degrees to make the score line deeper. Once you have sufficient depth, use a chisel bevel down to pare away the field. A crank neck paring chisel works very good for this procedure, as it puts the chisel in a comfortable position. 

Care has to be taken not to oversize the outer shape. Pare the field carefully up to the outer edge. Fit the inlay to the space as per the alignment marks. Dress the edge if necessary.












 







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## cramer (May 5, 2011)

a decent router plane is also handy for this if onely hand tools are used.. I´m also doing inlay atm but I´m doing like this guy in this video.


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## Gary0855 (Aug 3, 2010)

Like Cabinetman said, use a xacto knife. Be very gentle with this mark, a slip with the knife here may mean a lot of sanding to get it out.
Mark around the edge, remove the inlay piece, use knife to deepen the first mark. I then hold the knife at 45% and make a cut into the first cut. Making a v grove, with the outlining cut straight down and the angled cut to the inside. You can now rest a chisel in that grove and deepen the outer mark, going straight down, then angle at 45% and make the grove deeper.
Once the outline is established to depth, the "field", everything inside the outline, can be removed with chisel or router.
Before pressing in the inlay, angle the very bottom edge slightly, this will help start the inlay into the hole.


First pic is of all the pieces cut and fit together. I inlayed the border first and them one piece at a time from the bottom up.
Second is finished lid.

check out the library for books on inlay also.


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