Aussie woodworker, Australian woodworker, Wood Inlay, Marquetry: WOOD INLAID PELICAN

THE SIDE PANELS:

Today, nice day, b-----y painter got me up early, guess this allows me more time in the shed, silver lining to every cloud. Today I hope to get a good start on the wood inlaid sides.

The veneer I'm using is very old, dry and brittle, it was given to me by an old gentleman, from the local Naval association, In return, I am going to make a couple of inlaid boxes, so they can raffle them to raise funds for the local Nave Cadets.

Using superglue and painters tape, I run a bead of glue along the crack, then use a small piece of tape to hold the two pieces together, when the glue is dry I scrape flush.

The traditional way is gummed tape or gummed paper, applied to the back of the veneer, this works fine, but the easy to remove masking tape works for me.

With the pattern glued to the veneer, I select a starting place

Then decide where to drill the pilot hole for the scrollsaw blade, if I work from one end of the piece to the other I can drill the pilot hole into the next piece to be cut, making it easier to conceal the pilot holes.

Drill the pilot hole, I said yesterday, I am going to use my Ryobi Scrollsaw for this project, instead of the home made, hand powered scrollsaw, I am interested to see if it takes longer and/or the finished product is better or worse, at the end of the project I will make a comparison and write about it.

Carefully in a clockwise direction, and with the cutting table of the scrollsaw set at an angle of 6 degrees, saw around the section to be inlaid.

Glue around the edge of the cutout, and place inlay piece into position.

Using a brayer, small hammer or other tool ensure the inlay is seated and flush.

With the Ryobi as with a lot of the less expensive Scrollsaws, changing and re-tensioning the blade can be slow and frustrating, I have made this little gizmo, which I use to remove and install the blade, without re-tensioning the blade, I only have to tension the blade when it's new. Perhaps the manufacturers could put a bit of thought into there product, and with very minimal cost could much improve the usability.

I was about to celebrate two weeks, without needing a woodworkers band-aid, new RULE never hold a thin piece of wood when drilling a pilot hole.

Continue around the pattern until the last piece is left.

The pilot hole will need to be hidden, and the best spot to hide a pilot hole is in plain sight.

I find the top of a curve is ideal, I drill the pilot hole at an angle, twice that the scrollsaw table is set at, entering just prior to the cutting line and exiting on the other side, of the cutting line, this puts the saw blade in the middle of the cutting line as per the diagram.