I inlay silver into furnture as well as mixing bronze powder with epoxy(This looks like brass you may want to try it - it's dead easy - rout your pattern, mix the brass powder (art shops have this) with Araldite Epoxy Resin and wap it in any old way you like. Then scrape it down or run it accross the jointer - dead easy and much easier than brass, even on large patterns - and what more no expansion problems. I knicked this ideas from Tim Stead:
http://www.timsteadfurniture.co.uk/index.htm who repaired holes in burr elm this way, very beautifully
I do inlay in the following way:
Silver
I purchase silver bars of the correct width from a local silversmiths stockists, or thin silver plate if I want thin inlays. Making sure the thickness is equal to the bits I have.
Cut your pieces to be inlayed first as then you know exactly the depth and width, I use a vernier calliper for this (but a micrometer works well too I just prefer a calliper) A belt sander is great thicknesser with 120 grit belt
I rout the lines by hand (practice this
a lot on cheap wood that is simlar in hardness to your final piece, or off cuts). I mainly use a laminate trimmer but also recently have used a dremel with routing base. But originally I did it with my old Makita router! This was hard as it is difficult to control but after a little practice and adding a slippy base (PFTE tape from Axminster), and borrowing a speed controller to slow down the router, it worked well. I bought the laminate trimmer second hand for 10 euros and put in new brushes! and the dremel was a present, so in summary although they are easier to use I'd would not have bought them specially.
Sand the wood surface well before you rout to help the router move smoothly. I go to 400 grit
In general I draw the design on the wood (usually with a white pencil as I mainly use dark hardwoods). Do not worry if you wander off a little as long as you keep routing and do each line to be routed in a single run.
I put my 100mm waste extractor pipe close to the router as I have removed most of the routers dust extraction so I could see what I'm doing. The extractor sucks away immediately the waste, and helps tremendously.
Make sure your depth is correct as if you are doing it free hand you only get one shot at it. But if your using a template or straight line guides you can progressively make it deeper. If I do shapes I use a routing template guide bush and the shape made from thin MDF, then inlay is easy, Trend do a nice kit for this but you do get rounded edges so think about the design thy can be mostly avoided, by smart template design, and a way thin routing bit.
I have experimented with various glues and tried to overcome the expansion problems. I now file a little off the edges of the silver (actually on my belt sander) to make it a little thinner to give it room to move. And I now use a rubberised contact adhesive (I use a Dutch version of EvoStick) this also allows it to move without loosing the bond. But like most glues on some oily hardwoods it does not work. I got to this via trail an error
I fit all the silver once all the routing is done, I use a flat plate and a heavy item to press the silver flat with the wood and then just a final careful sanding of the wood. You can flatten the whole thing with a cabinet scraper metal and brass, by practice you can learn not to mark the wood. I only use oils or shellac finishes so those are easy to apply to the piece and wipe off the metal (I like the way the silver oxidises in my furniture)
I have tried a scratch stick and a Stanley router plane but my skill level is too low and my lines wander too much with the grain with these two methods.
I use very very thin router bits I get from Holz in Germany, but I believe Trend stock them. I have also heard of someone using those small second hand drilling bits you can buy via Axminster that come from Silicon Valley, problem is you do not know what you get when you buy 50!
And finally you need nerves of steel when you do it for the first time, I tend to sho the kids away as I swear like blue murder when I f*!& it up.
Hope this helps, feel free to post any more questions here
