Probably a dumb question....

Re: Probably a dumb question....

Wendell @ Murphy, TX

>There is an episode of the Woodwright's shop about decorating Federal card tables. St. Roy's guest Steve Latta shows how he does marquetry and string inlays. For string inlays, Steve uses a tool that is a piece metal the width of the stringing with two saw teeth. It's not clear to me whether the tool is a traditional or if it something Steve Latta developed for his work.

Wendell

Re: Probably a dumb question....

Jim in Conowingo, MD

>Interesting, Wendell, I haven't seen that one (don't get me started about Maryland public television no longer carrying Roy). How did Steve guide the saw tool for curved and straight lines, straight-edge and freehand?

I was wondering if the original string inlays might have been done by forming the groove with two knives set at 45 degrees inward, then set the stringing in at 45 and scraping off the excess. Just haven't figured out a good way to guide the knives. (But obviously someone else did :) )

Re: Probably a dumb question.... *LINK*

Ed Mulligan, Cape Cod

>Jim -

Here's a link to a previous thread on inlay. It contains a link to Paul Womack's (aka 'Bugbear) helpful page on scratch stocks.

Ed


Scratch stocks

Quirk router *LINK*

Sandor in Boyds, MD

>How about one of these?

Kinda like a cross between a plow plane with left and right nickers and a beading tool. The blade has the nickers built-in. I imagine they must be a pain to sharpen.




Quirk Router

Re: Probably a dumb question....

Wendell @ Murphy, TX

>For straight cuts, Steve's cutting tool uses a fence. The tool is very similar to a scratch stock but the cutter is different. For curved inlays, the tool has a pivot pin sort of like circle cutting jig for a power router. For the table legs, the pivot point to make the arcs was off the leg stock, so he had a jig to hold the leg. The jig was setup to allow him to pivot the cutter on fence on the jig so it would create the arc he wanted on the leg. Steve Latta has been on St. Roy's show twice. I have both episodes on VHS tapes that I bought from PBS. If you are interested in string inlays, I recommend the videos even if they are a bit pricey for a 1/2 hour show. What I would really like to do is take a class from Latta. He teaches at the Marc Adams school. He is also teaching a class in June at the Olde Mill Cabinet Shoppe (York, PA) entitled "Federal Card Table Leg Inlay Basics".

Wendell

Re: Probably a dumb question....

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>The curved aprons were "bricked", just as they are today, from blocks of poplar or white pine, but would have been sawn with a bowsaw instead of a bandsaw, and then planed and scraped smooth on the outer face. The inner face was left rough from the saw. The veneer was also sawn, usually about 1/8" thick, or a bit less. Again, the face surface was planed and scraped smooth. They might have built and used a wooden compass plane to smooth the outer face of the veneer, but a flat soled plane, followed by a scraper, will work if care is taken.

Re: Probably a dumb question....

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>RE. routers, they did have routers. Reference the Stanley #71, for example of a later implementation in metal. Since the aprons were veneered, and often the legs were veneered as well, the inlay patterns could be cut with a knife through the veneer, obviating the need for a router. If the patterns were set in solid wood, then they would have been cut with a knife, following the shape of the medallion or bell flower (bell flowers were typical, but not included in the simplified table shown in PW) and then the bottom flattened with small chisels and routers. For examples of more historically correct inlay patterns used in these tables, ask Google to search for "hepplewhite bellflower" for you.

Re: Probably a dumb question....

Jim in Conowingo, MD

>Thanks guys!

Kinda amazing how simple some things are once they're pointed out to ya. More than one way to skin a cat! What's sad is that I've not only used but made a scratch stock! Only used it to make a bead, too dumb to see how it could be used for inlays. Good thing I don't make my living at woodworking, lol!

Re: Probably a dumb question....

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>Scratch stocks work pretty well cutting the grooves to lay string inlay with the grain, but don't work any better than a dado plane without nickers when cutting across the grain. In these cases, you need something more sophisticated.

That's the reason for the complicated blade of the quirk router, but you don't have to go to that expense. I've heard tell of people who just took a pair of x-acto blades, put a spacer between them and mounted them in a handle, e.g., a pin vise or a slightly modified x-acto knife handle. It is relatively easy to mount one of these home-built tools in something like a compass or trammel points to make controlled, radiused curves. If the pair of blades are reground with a bevel on only one side (the inside), then there will be less need for putty or other wood filler after the inlay has been glued in place.

Instead of, or in addition to a router, a very narrow chisel, which can be ground into the end of a worn out triangular file, is also helpful in clearing the bottom of the groove. Since you are working with curves, you will want to use it bevel down, and might even consider grinding the edge into a fishtail, wider at the cutting edge than behind it. If you do your own saw sharpening, you should have lots of worn out triangular files in your "custom tool stock" box.