Hello everyone,
It’s time to get more ambitious with my projects. What I’m planning to make is an oak bookcase with a birdseye maple inlay. In my head the final result would have the oak pore-filled and stained, while the birdseye maple would not be pore-filled or stained.
I’m trying to figure out the method for this. So far I have the following:
1) Rout out for the inlay.
2)insert a cheap veneer with copious amounts of double-sided tape (I would tape the scrap and good veneers together to cut them so they are identical)
3)Fill the pores and stain the oak
4)Remove the cheap veneer
5)apply the birdseye maple veneer (with hide glue)
6)Varnish the piece
Does this seem feasible? Or am I crazy to try to inlay into a pore filled and stained piece(in other words should I think about making the piece out of cherry)?
Thanks for all your advice!!
Replies
Matt,
I make federal furniture, and this requires me to do quite a bit of inlay work. What I do is to inlay the work, and carefully coat the inlays with brushing lacquer or shellac. I use the brushing lacquer for narrow items like stringing, since it easier to control, while shellac works better for larger inlaid panels like yours.
Do a minimum of two coats, to insure you don’t miss anything.
This may sound difficult but it is not, of course it isn’t any fun either. You could tape off the inlaid panel while applying the grain filler, but with a tight grain wood like maple, this probably is not necessary.
I have attached a photo of a Maryland sideboard I made finished this way.
Rob Millard
Thanks for the advice Rob. I'll be sure to post pictures when the bookcase is done.
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