As I mentioned earlier, here's a new thread on stringing and inlays. The topic of inlays and stringing came up multiple times yesterday with the NCWW folks, so it's probably worthy of some discussion. I happened to find a book at the MWTCA meeting "Charleston Furniture" by E. Milby Burton that is a history and information book about this style and period of furniture. Some of the features of this furniture is elaborate inlays, stringing, and carvings including the use of a lot of mahogany crotch veneers. Unfortunately the best picture is on the cover since the other pictures in the book are all black & white. The picture on the cover is a knockout as you can see below:
After I finish the book, I'll be glad to pass it along to someone else. This topic has gotten my attention because my current primary project has included a bunch of R&D in doing inlays and stringing. I'm building a walnut display case for my Marsh plane collection and have the end panels completed. I tried all afternoon to take some decent pictures, but it "ain't happenin" with this digital camera. So bear with the crappy pictures, maybe I can get better pictures later. The end panels are walnut, rail & stile construction with ebony pegged mortise & tenons, with bookmatched walnut burl veneered panels. The corner columns are round and fluted with ebony "rings" and finished off with corner pieces top & bottom with burl walnut inlays and ebonized stringing. Anyway, here's a pictures of one of the end panels:
The inlay fields of the corner pieces and the inner edges of the top and bottom rails have ebonized stringing. Following is another picture that hopefully shows a little more detail of these areas.
After I finish the book, I'll be glad to pass it along to someone else. This topic has gotten my attention because my current primary project has included a bunch of R&D in doing inlays and stringing. I'm building a walnut display case for my Marsh plane collection and have the end panels completed. I tried all afternoon to take some decent pictures, but it "ain't happenin" with this digital camera. So bear with the crappy pictures, maybe I can get better pictures later. The end panels are walnut, rail & stile construction with ebony pegged mortise & tenons, with bookmatched walnut burl veneered panels. The corner columns are round and fluted with ebony "rings" and finished off with corner pieces top & bottom with burl walnut inlays and ebonized stringing. Anyway, here's a pictures of one of the end panels:
The inlay fields of the corner pieces and the inner edges of the top and bottom rails have ebonized stringing. Following is another picture that hopefully shows a little more detail of these areas.
The stringing is 1/8" ebonized "wood", probably maple or similar, because it flexes without breaking. Real ebony is very brittle and would be difficult to deal with as stringing. I inlayed the stringing in the rails with a dremel tool with the router base attachment, 1/8" straight router bit, and of course the fence. The curve in the top rail was routed by attaching the bandsaw scrap from sawing the curve, to the fence. Set the depth just shy of the thickness of the stringing. I was very concerned about screwing up with the Dremel, but it is actually very controllable and low risk, probably since you are actually only removing a small amount of wood. After the groove is routed and cleaned up, simply add a little dark Titebond down in the groove with an art brush, and place the stringing in the groove. I wouldn't put the glue on the stringing as this may cause the stringing to swell. A damp rag will take care of any glue squeeze-put. My stringing fit tight enough to not require any clamping. After it dries, simply sand the stringing flush with the face of your work. A very simple process that will add some nice highlights to your work.
This has become quite long so I'll spare everyone and post later on how to do the inlays and stringing on the corner pieces.:icon_thum
