I need some advice on doing the inlay for this project. My first idea was to rout out the recesses for the stars I had already cut. But the stars are quite small at their tips, which makes routing impractical as I get near them.
I don’t think making a template to rout out recesses and matching pieces is feasible given the size restriction. The board is pretty tough purpleheart and hard to work with a chisel. Am I stuck doing this the hard way, or is there a third method?
You need a Dremel rotary tool and inlay bits. A base for the rotary tool is useful too
More info here.
http://www.dremel.com/en-us/projectsandcommunity/projects/Pages/detail.aspx?pcpid=17
Dremel sells a nice set of inlay bits.
This guy is using a base to steady the tool.
http://www.woodworkingseminars.com/?p=983
Nice step by step article using a Dremel for inlays
I have found a sharp set of chisels and a good Exacto knife set to be the ticket. Also, it is much easier to to cut inlay in the bigger piece of wood then make the small pieces fit. I have made a number of cribbage boards and have gotten pretty good at the doing inlays.
search for **BigShooter **here at the SDMB and PM him - he does excellent woodwork building guitars so would have a lot of input on this…
Awesome! I didn’t know Dremel had those sorts of gadgets. Time to hunt around and see what I can find. Thanks!