brass/copper inlay

[woodmani]

Hi,

I have a design to do a brass inlay gift box but i have never done brass inlay before. I have looked on google for references but i cannot find much info with photo's. Can anyone guide me to a site to give some pointers. All i wanted to design was a brass/copper border around the inside perimeter of the lid. Maybe a turtle dove inlay in the centre. I read somewhere i need a router for that with a small bit (is there a special bit for this type of work ???), is there a better way without using a router?

thanks,
wm

 

[SketchUp Guru]

Hi WM,

I haven't done this but reading your post made me think of Boulle work (after André-Charles Boulle) in which layers of brass or ivory are sandwiched with veneer and the two are cut out together with a very fine saw. Once the pattern is cut out, the brass parts can be assembled with the veneer. It's basically a form a marquetry. Perhaps it would work in your application. There was an article describing the process in Fine Woodworking magazine awhile back. There's a video here as well but it may require membership.

Luthiers do inlays similar to what you are talking about and these days often use a small handheld router with a tiny bit maybe 2 or 3 mm dia. You might do some searching in the vein.