I learned a neat trick from my luthier friends for doing pearl inlay. Paint the surface with tempera paint; glue the inlay to the surface; trace around it with a scribe; heat the inlay with a soldering pencil to soften the glue, then rout the recess.
I’ve been using elmer’s school glue and it’s been working great except when using inlays that are made of multiple pieces. In those cases, the heat also weakens the CA that is holding the inlay together. I’m thinking a weaker glue might be the ticket; or a different way to soften it. Any ideas?
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Have you tried one of the spray adhesives made for crafts and such? Scroll sawyers use them to hold paper pattern to stock, and then peel off the pattern when done. You can vary the holding power of the adhesive by varying how long you wait between spraying and sticking the two objects together.
Remove the residue with mineral spirits. 3M Super Spray 77 is the one I usually use, though you'll find bands such as Elmers.
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Edited 5/11/2009 11:29 am by forestgirl
You could try using some museum wax or temporary display adhesive. The wax is a substance that leaves no residue but will hold an object from moving about on a vibrating shelf. The other is used to temporarily adhere signage to gallery walls. It's a putty like stuff that also leaves no residue.
Brands that I've used are: Sticky Wax and (I think) Holds-It. You can google up a bunch.
Have you tried taping the show side of the inlay with veneer tape to maintain it's integrity while working. That should hold things together while you heat it to soften the temporary glue. Once everything is in and dry the tape comes off easily with water.
I find an iron, used by model makers to shrink in the film that covers wooden airplanes, is a great tool for gently heating this type of work. I use this one a lot when veneering.
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Hide glue works well if you happen to have a pot cooked up already. The liquid hide glue is removable with heat, too, but might take a while to set up.
Another alternative is to use regulare yellow glue. A dab on the inlay, a dab on the stock. Let it dry to the touch for about 15 min. Press it in place, hit it with the iron to reactivate and there you go. After you scribe the perimeter hit it with the iron, reactivate the glue, and remove the inlay.
Glue stick, used a lot by scrap bookers, it's more tacky than firmly adhering. Found a craft stores. The container is made like a Chapstick.
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Bruce S.
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