Gaps Around Parts--how to avoid?

[Cosmoline]

Thanks! I have indeed been chipping wood off the sides because there's black there. I should have realized that was not a good idea! Like I said before I can't be trusted with tools.

 

[flintriflesmith]

This may shake all of you up. I don't have an exacto knife on the place. :shocked2: Never used them.

Mike,
Thanks! I was beginning to think I was the only one who never used or owned an exacto knife. I can not stand how they look or how they feel in the hand. There is something unnatural about aluminum as a tool handle and a blade that flexes.
Gary

 

[zampilot]

Being on my first build I am becoming suspect of inletting black, not that it is bad to use, but that it may easily give false impressions leading to more wood removed than necessary. As Mr. Brooks stated, use it sparingly, as I am trying to learn.

 

[Zonie]

FRS:
I agree with you.
The Exacto knife with the skinny aluminum handle is very uncomfortable to use.
It is difficult to control and is difficult to get any real force with it.

The Exacto Knife in the photo below on the other hand is an excellent tool and I feel that anyone who doesn't have one is missing out on a very handy item.

The little chisels shown in the photo were made from music wire and are excellent for chiseling the pockets for small inlays.

 

[Capt. Jas.]

I have three like that. I just cant get used to using xacto blades even when I alter them or what kind of handle is on them. I have made some small knives and chisels out of hacksaw blades that I seem to like quite well though.

 

[crockett]

I wanted to bring back this thread to say that I may have been sort of hasty in bad mouthing inlet black. I am currently fitting the inner parts of a lock into a stock and I clamped on guides so that the lock plate moves straight down into position- no shaking hands. Done this way the black marks the high spots and is really indispensable. I don't know how else I could fit in the parts. So.... the black is of value given you use it properly.

 

[Mike Brooks]

So.... the black is of value given you use it properly.

Has always worked well for me when used properly.

 

[rich pierce]

It does not hurt to use wood screws through the holes in the lockplate to keep things from wandering. Just screw it down while you trace around it the first time, then every time after you remove some wood from the mortise, do it again. Go ahead and cheat and use phillips head screws when nobody's looking and it will be a fast operation. I have even used nails with the heads cut off as guides though the lockplate holes so the lock could be slipped over them the same way every time. You're going to need to make a deep mortise in exactly those spots anyway (sear screw hole, sear spring hole, frizzen spring "peg" hole, etc.

 

[Zonie]

I may have mentioned already that I like inletting black.

I'm not sure why so many folks seem to have a problem with it. Maybe it's the way they are applying it?

My method is to have a very small soft bristle paint brush. The kind you can get at a hobby shop for painting model cars etc.

I don't dip the brush into the black. I just touch the end of the brush on it and then "paint" the area of the part where I want the stuff.
That way it doesn't get all over my hands, my tools or my workbench.
After inserting the part into the stock to find the high points I pull the part back out and lightly recoat the areas where the black was rubbed off.

When inletting a tang or a lock plate I seldom if ever apply the stuff to the sides of the part.
It always gets wiped off by the tight fitting mortice if I do and that tells me nothing.
The fit in that area is supposed to be tight so removing blackened surfaces there is exactly the wrong thing to do.

I've also found that when I remove the part it is a very good idea to look at the blackened area on the part.
Often you can see little areas where the black was removed that don't show up very clearly on the wood. This is especially true if the wood in the bottom of the mortice is fairly rough.

Also, when looking for rubbed off black, look very carefully. Sometimes just the smallest of slivers of wood, things that look too small to cause much of a problem turn out to be the very thing that is preventing the part from fitting all of the way down into the mortice.

 

[jmforge]

You Exacto haters should either buy one of Joe Keeslar's silver wire inlay kits or make some of the chisels yourself. They use cut down Exacto blades and have nice round wooden handles. You could pretty much use any of the smaller blades you choose for other tasks.

 

[jmforge]

I have used hacksaw blade chisels and I like the ones made from Exacto blades a lot better. If you want to do anything serious with the hacksaw based chisels, you have to harden them and then temper them back, which is quite easy, but still an extra step.

 

[BLAHMAN]

I may have mentioned already that I like inletting black.

I'm not sure why so many folks seem to have a problem with it. Maybe it's the way they are applying it?

My method is to have a very small soft bristle paint brush. The kind you can get at a hobby shop for painting model cars etc.

I don't dip the brush into the black. I just touch the end of the brush on it and then "paint" the area of the part where I want the stuff.
That way it doesn't get all over my hands, my tools or my workbench.
After inserting the part into the stock to find the high points I pull the part back out and lightly recoat the areas where the black was rubbed off.

When inletting a tang or a lock plate I seldom if ever apply the stuff to the sides of the part.
It always gets wiped off by the tight fitting mortice if I do and that tells me nothing.
The fit in that area is supposed to be tight so removing blackened surfaces there is exactly the wrong thing to do.

I've also found that when I remove the part it is a very good idea to look at the blackened area on the part.
Often you can see little areas where the black was removed that don't show up very clearly on the wood. This is especially true if the wood in the bottom of the mortice is fairly rough.

Also, when looking for rubbed off black, look very carefully. Sometimes just the smallest of slivers of wood, things that look too small to cause much of a problem turn out to be the very thing that is preventing the part from fitting all of the way down into the mortice.

I too use inletting black...for a brush I use a fluxing brush, the kind that is used when soldering copper pipes together....

I also use an exacto knife to establish the outline of the item I'm inletting, then when I use my chisel I go up to, but not past that line, not even on that line.....

If I have little gaps I can close them by lighty tapping the metal edges with a very small ball peen hammer...mine is absolutely tiny...this swedges the metal a bit closer to the gap...it can also be cleaned up with a small file or sandpaper.

When I add stain and finish, any gap is practically gone....the wood will swell

Just my 2 cents worth.....

 

[paulvallandigham]

I don't think a tool has been invented for inletting metal to wood that replaces the value of the Touch of a human finger. I can FEEL high spots that I cannot see, no matter what marking medium I have tried, or what light I am using.

Without first filing a Draft on parts to be inletted, you are wasting your time, and good wood, IMHO. I draft the tangs, but like you, don't see much value in using inletting black. The tang has fairly straight sides, and I can draw those with a straight edge, and cut to proper size by paying attention to my lines.

The bottom side of a tang can be more difficult, particular when the tangs are curved to mimic the curve of the wrist. That is where inletting black comes to good use, but used sparingly. Using that small artist brush to put the black on the part, in a very thin coat is a great idea. :hatsoff: