Preparation
The books
Whenever I’m faced with my own ignorance of a subject, I turn to books, and so it was as I considered whether doing inlay was feasible for me or just a ridiculous pipe dream. Amazon loves me this year.
The first book I read was The Art of Inlay: Design & Technique for Fine Woodworking, by a guy named Larry Robinson, who is considered one of the foremost inlay artists in the world. He was asked to do a special inlay for Martin’s 750,000th guitar, and another for their millionth. These are guitars no one could even afford to buy, but they are amazing. He describes the purfling on one of them as taking thousands of tiny individual pieces. I was thrilled to find out that in addition to his book, he sells DVDs showing the process. I’ll get those if I find I’m stuck. This book didn’t have as much in the way of illustration of technique as I’d hoped, and while it would probably be enough for an experienced woodworker, for a complete and total novice there needs to be more visual aids.
The next book I read was Pearl Inlay: An Instruction Manual for Inlaying Abalone and Mother-of-Pearl, by James E. Patterson. This book is 15 years old and could do with a real good editing just from a mechanics point of view. However, it was very good with descriptions and pictures and diagrams of the techniques, which was helpful to me. This one, in combination with the first, gave me a good idea of what exactly was involved, even down to creating my own blanks from actual shells. I would have to buy a whole bunch of other tools to do that, too. I think I’ll buy blanks off the rack.
The last book I read was Marquetry & Inlay Handbook, by Zachary Taylor (not the president, I’m assuming.) I skipped over the marquetry section and went right to the inlay bit, and then backtracked and read it all. This was by far the best in terms of color illustrations and techniques and discussion of tools and their uses. I’d like to be able to inlay both wood veneers and pearl, for maximum options, so this book was great. At the street fair today, I saw a booth where the guy did fancy inlay of both on nice furniture. It was amazing, and inspirational to be able to see it up close and personal, and run my fingers across it. Gorgeous work.
I picked up another book, A Guitarmaker’s Canvas: The Inlay Art of Grit Laskin, just for the inspiration. This guy is a luthier as well, and a master of inlay art. His work is just unbelievable, and you can check it out here, if you’re so inclined. Jaw-dropping art anyway, and especially in this medium.
I also picked up a couple art deco clipart books, to go with a Celtic design one I already had, to start with patterns for my practice projects. The nice thing about those books of clipart is that all the designs are royalty-free and you can use them at will. And I’ve got a lead on a luthier who does week-long "camps" in upstate New York (in the same town where Bordeaux Inlay is located, oddly enough, but it’s a different guy). You can spend a week and learn inlay, or build a guitar. I would like to do the inlay one, but because of the summer, between the time off when Antiguo passed and for Scott’s surgery, I am still in the hole for vacation time. So maybe by next fall I can go. That would be totally awesome. (Sorry–channeling my inner Valley Girl. I don’t know what got into me.)
After reading all the books, it seems to me that the concept is very simple: rout a hole, then fill it with stuff you sawed in the same shape. The technique will be what’s tricky, but that’s a matter of time, practice, and patience, just like anything else. I think I can do it.
The Workbench
This house came equipped with a long workbench along one wall of the garage. I cleaned off half of it, and left Scott’s side the sty it usually is. Got myself a wee shop-vac and really, truly cleaned it. I’ll use the same shop-vac attached to my saw board, a V-shaped bench clip, to collect the shell dust as I saw. Apparently, human lungs react badly to too much of that dust. And I bought a worklight and put that up as well. I paid a few extra bucks for the “no hum” version. Buzzing lights make me nuts.
All the practice wood came from two guys who answered my post on the Tucson Freecycle group. It’s a group here where people can post their wants or things they want to get rid of, and others can come fetch them. The only rule is that it has to be free; you can’t sell anything on there. I was trying to figure out a way to get what I needed without going to the lumberyard and ignorantly gawping at miles of lumber. Having paid attention to Antiguo describing the disorganization at his shop, I put up this canny and directed post:
WANTED: Hardwood Scraps
I’m trying to learn a new hobby, and would like to practice on scrap wood until I get good enough with my tools to start doing real projects. If you are a carpenter, cabinetmaker, or other woodworker, and you’ve got a pile of odds and ends you know you’re never going to use, but can’t bring yourself to throw away, and would like someone to come take them away so you don’t have to think about the fire hazard every time you walk past, I’m your girl. I will be glad to come pick them up if you can help me out. I’d be much obliged.Yours in sawdust,
Spikey
Two guys answered, and the boxes and bench full of wood you see in the picture above came from them. What was really funny is that when I arrived at the door of the second guy who contacted me, I said, “Hey! I know you!” He’s the head of the local Peace Center, and I guess he’s a professional woodworker when he’s not making peace. I played at the Peace Fest they organized last year, and he comes to open mic every now and again. It’s a very, very small world, and he gave me a chunk of every kind of hardwood he had (and a pencil to label them as he went through the pile so I could learn them), which was awesome, and told me to call him if I needed more. The other guy gave me a bunch of different kinds of wood, including some MDF and other particle board, suggesting that learning to use my tools on softer woods would be a lot easier, rather than dealing with the grain of hardwoods out of the gate. I really appreciate both the wood and the advice, since I’m a total noob. The wood supply was the biggest hurdle in prepping, that and the pearl itself, but I have sources for that in mind already.
The Tools
I needed to get a Dremel tool. I have one, but it’s only one-speed, and that wasn’t going to work, so I got the super-duper one recommended at the Stewart-MacDonald site. I didn’t buy it there, though. I’ve found that it pays to look around on the web, as they mark up their prices quite a bit on both tools and supplies and books. I found it from another seller for $25 less. I picked up an exacto-type knife at Home Depot, and a shload of replacement blades on eBay. The rest is on its way from Stew-Mac, though: A jeweler’s saw (for cutting the pearl), saw blades, carbide router bits, a special adapter collet and a router base for the Dremel, a sandpaper assortment, and a sample pack of specialty luthier-approved glues. What’s funny was that I was reading about adhesives in the first inlay book, and the author kept talking about using cyanocrylates, and I thought, crap, I’ve never even heard of those. I wonder where you get them? And for how much? Do you have to buy a 50-gallon drum? I was afraid. So then I googled “cyanocrylates” to find out that that’s the generic name for Superglue. I had to laugh.
The Dremel, router bits, and the router base were the most expensive tools, and all 3 of them really make up a single tool. But I only have to buy them once, except for when the bits wear out or break.
The Pearl
The first stuff I got was a sheet of abalam (I think), laminated layers and strips of paua abalone.
This was a b-day gift from a friend whom I’d told of my new adventure, and it’s been waiting patiently on my desk. This stuff is kind of cool because it’s like recycling; they use the cast off pieces of blanks, put it together and make something usable out of it that would otherwise get thrown away, since the curvature of the shell limits how many flat usable blanks you can get out of it. And it’s cheaper because of it. The rest of the stuff I got off of eBay. I don’t know what the quality is there, but the price is right, and for a noob who’s trying to learn, it’s perfect. I don’t need expensive stuff. I got 50 blanks of mother-of-pearl, which is white,
45 blanks green abalone,
and I’ve got one more day on an auction for some paua.
On the green abalone, which I got for $25, including shipping from Taiwan, would’ve cost me $140 at Stew-Mac. ¡GANGA! Always better to learn at a discount, which is why I’ve got scrap wood and am not starting on an actual musical instrument.
So when the pearl and the remainder of tools arrive, I can get started. I just need to pick a first design to try. I think I should also cut up some of the hunks of wood into smaller pieces for practice. They’ll be more convenient than to lug around huge sheets. And I’ll get to use the little circular saw I bought a couple years ago and still haven’t used. Power tools are a girl’s best friend.
