Wire inlay

[Magnus Geijer]

I have seen some of the silver wire inlay posted lately (Jim Hilburn's headstocks come to mind) and really liked the look of it. Could anyone provide some hints on how this is best done?

Thanks,

Magnus

[Bill Snyder]

Could anyone provide some hints on how this is best done?


By Jim Hilburn or Hans Brentrup. #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
Seriously though this topic has come up before so you might try a search of past threads. You can take a look at this article. (http://www.hooverandstrong.com/articles/?id=22) Not in pegheads, but still wire inlay.

[Jim Hilburn]

I draw what I want on the peghead and freehand cut it the dremel and a 1/32" bit at about half the depth of the wire. Trying to get the wire level so it sits in the groove is the hard part. When it's close, I superglue it and lay wax paper and plexiglass over it and clamp it.Even if you overcut a little, you can fill it with black epoxy.

[WoodyMcKenzie]

I have inlaid my name twice now. Both times I used square wire and dug the channel out with a Dremel and an X-acto knife. Black epoxy to fill, just like above. I bought some Stew Mac black epoxy and it hardened up after about a year and was unusable. I went to the auto parts store and bought a syringe of epoxy that was black in one half and white in the other. I cut the plunger so that only the black would deliver and used it with the clear hardener that I originally got from Stew Mac along with the black resin. Worked fine. You could just see the black epoxy filler until I shellacked over it, then it blended nicely with the wood.

Woody

[ShaneJ]

I did a little touch-up on mine tonight with epoxy. I used clear and mixed in ebony dust to make it black.

[mando andy]

Hey Woody--how did that inlay with wire/metal turn out?? Can you post some pics???

Andy
Madison, WI:)

[Magnus Geijer]

Thank you kindly! Purchased some wire and some glue today. Home improvement projects took the upper hand for the evening, however, so the first practice runs will have to wait until tomorrow. I wonder if I could get away with a little hand carving at my desk at work?

Thanks,

Magnus

[WoodyMcKenzie]

Here is how my name looks inlaid with square gold wire. This is my first attempt at inlaying mother of pearl. I chose easy to cut shapes. I used gold mother of pearl and also have the gold colored frets from Warmoth. Next time I will buy gold colored brass wire, which costs much less. The headstock has had a few coats of seedlac shellac wiped on. This is a mandola, BTW.


Woody

[mando andy]

Very Nice--thanks for the post!!!

andy

[Bill Snyder]

Nice job Woody. I like it.