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A Simple Way to Inlay Mother of Pearl

Ed Pirnik, Senior Web Producer

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Learn how Craig Thibodeau uses musician's fret dots to embellish fine furniture.

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San Diego-based furniture maker Craig Thibodeau is an accomplished artisan whose inlay and marquetry work is a force to be reckoned with. That said, Thibodeau knows when to employ complex techniques to get the look he's after and when subtle embelishments are all that's needed to get the job done. Case in point: his ingenious re-purposing of mother of pearl fret dots.

Fret dots, those white circles found along the necks of guitars, are used by musicians to aid in placing their fingers accurately while moving from chord to chord or note-to-note during a song. Watch the slideshow to learn about Thibodeau's technique.

More on Inlay and Embellishment • Dress Up Your Work With Creative Stringing  • Boulle Marquetry Basics  • A Convex Decorative Edge Banding  • Veneering Tight Curves  • Give Legs a Kick With Dazzling Inlay

Tage Frid Teaches Woodworking: Books 1 & 2
by Tage Frid A Step-By-Step Guidebook to Joinery, Shaping, Veneering and Finishing $29.95 more info...

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Comments (13)

Thomabubinga writes: Has anyone tried finishing a pearl-inlaid piece of wood with oil (Danish, or whatever)? Graig mentioned that laquer does the job, but how about oil?
Any shares are apreciated
Posted: 4:54 pm on January 22nd

decarlowoodworks writes: Wow, nice work! Something I want to do when I get some time!

Mike - http://decarlowoodworks.blogspot.com
Posted: 4:17 pm on December 28th

Craig_T writes: Hacker, I buy all my mother of pearl, abalone and reconstituted stone from JoAnn at Rescue Pearl www.rescuepearl.com. She also has some of the necessary tools though Stewart-MacDonald www.stewmac.com has a wider selection of tools for doing inlay. The acrylester and other plastics are available from Rockler, Woodcraft and several online sources, just search for pen turning blanks. Good luck.
Craig
Posted: 9:48 am on December 20th

Dr_Hacker writes: WOW what a beatuiful craft. I am just learning woodworking and plan to start dabbling w inlay. Where can one get mother of pearl or other other fine shell materials?

Thanks
Posted: 4:26 pm on December 19th

epirnik writes: JYA: The material is called "Acrylester."

Cheers,

-Ed
Posted: 9:26 am on December 15th

Wade01 writes: I've used mother of pearl for many years as inlay and especially the fret dots. A tip is to use the brad point bits from Lee Valley for the frets. They are the most accurate I've found & the sell metric and sae sizes. The frets from www.stewmac.com I use are metric except for the 1/4" one's. Valley carries the sizes for all them. The frets fit the drilled holes perfectly. Only thing that can mess it up when using these mentioned tools is a worn drill chuck.
I don't use epoxy though instead a glue called E6000 which is made for inlay work when two different materials are involved. It stays flexible, not brittle like epoxy, as wood moves the 6000 moves with it. As stone, mop and wood all move at different rates, this becomes important.
I have no affiliation with stewmac nor Lee Valley, just happy customer.
Posted: 7:21 am on December 15th

2kidsnosleep writes: Really cool and informative.
Though early on in the woodworking learning curve, I enjoy adding interest and detail with inlays.
Good idea of using the acrylic/plastic pen turning blanks. I have to pry my 9yr old son away from those blanks when we visit our Lee Valley store, so maybe I will let him pick one to use in a project for himself.
Posted: 12:26 am on December 15th

JYA writes: What does he call that blue stuff he used to make the butterfly wings? Aqualuster?
Posted: 12:22 am on December 15th

petenoffke writes: Wow Craig, my compliments indeed. A master craftsman you are to say the least. Good imagination and quality. I can only aspire to such work. I get down to San Diego occasionally and would love the opportunity to see some of your work up close and chat with you. If I can find where you are expect a call. Absolutely gorgeous.
Posted: 6:24 pm on December 14th

Craig_T writes: The file is also called a 'smooth finish milled tooth hand file' or auto body file and is available from McMaster Carr. Just do a search for 'hand files' and scroll down to get to the smooth finish file area. They are about $25 each and last a very long time. Lie Nielsen has begun selling smaller versions for hand work that have handles on them but they are smaller and more expensive than a full size file. They do have several different shapes that would be useful for joinery work though.
Craig
Posted: 9:28 am on December 14th

Ras writes: @bmyyou.....its a float
Posted: 7:14 am on December 14th

bmyyou writes: What is the name of the file that he mentioned in the video for filing the mother of pearl?
Posted: 12:32 am on December 14th

a_Furnitologist writes: Furniture design always gets back to using materials. Best line from Thibodeau stresses furniture makers being behind the curve and need to catch up...EXCELLENT POINT.
Posted: 9:31 am on December 9th

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