First inlay attempt......

[45man]

You can use Accra Glass resin that comes with dye so it will match the stained wood. I never engrave until the gun is finished because there might be filing to do. I engrave inlays on the gun.

 

[Hatman/2nd line]

Getting tired of scraping & sanding so I turned toward making a brass inlay. I cut some brass, engraved it and inlaid it as best I could. Copied it from H. Rupp design. I believe it suppose to be an indian girl. My inlay sucks with small gaps and I must decide on scrapping this one and cutting a larger brass piece to cover the gaps. I was wondering if the gaps can be filled with maple dust or something? Any help would be appreciated.

I think you did a pretty good job on the inlay, I've done some in the past and what you have will be filled in when you do the staining and finish.

 

[Col. Batguano]

Use long-set (or time to cure) epoxy, not the 5-minute stuff. It seems to stick better. It depends upon a physical bond between the 2 surfaces, so the more places you make for it to grab on to in both places, the better your bond will be. The glue itself sticks to itself because there is a chemical bond within it to hold itself together.

I use the analogy of using plaster putty filler in my plaster walls as an example. (I have 2 boys so holes sometimes appear on their own.) Even though the plaster on the wall is rough, and was dampened, my patches always seemed to fall out. Then I hit on using a few flat-head screws in to the hole screwed in there. The patch stuff filled in underneath the heads, and provided for the mechanical bond I needed to keep the patch stuff in there.

Some folks (like Dave Person and his small inlays) use a reverse draft on the inlay and undercut ihe hole, and then peen the metal in place to form the mechanical bond. This is quite common on barrel inlays (like for a signature plate) and when using a soft inlay materiel like sterling or fine silver. The hard steel barrel makes for a great anvil. The same technique is used for copper rivets and muzzle caps.

 

[Bob McBride]

I’d leave it as is as it’s no worse than many inlays of the period but for what it’s worth consider taking 4x the time you took on that one on the next. It’s not so much skill (though that is the end result) but taking your time on inlays can result in the same result as a skilled inlayer taking much less time.

I say well done.

 

[cannonball1]

Two things if you don't want to use an oversized inlay. Use hot water and heat to expand the wood to reduce any gaps and use liberal raw linseed oil after staining to further expand the wood. 45man mentioned inletting resin and I used a different inletting resin with a brown coloring. The brown was not dark enough and a paint store gave me a very small amount of black colorizer. Adding that to the resin was a perfect match for the stain I was using. The spot was so mynute with matching color that you cannot see it.