Cutting In Grooves For Inlay

Written by Dave Topics:federal, Inlay, Projects

When I made my first federal card table I used power everything on it. If it was in the shop and had a power cord attached, it got used!

I think I can honestly say the ONLY hand tool I used building it was sand paper. (For a few touch ups.)

With this project I’ve tried to gear myself to using more hand tools. Part because the inlay design requires it & part because I thought I’d see how peaceful it could be to work in a shop where, outside of lights and a radio, the power it off.

With that, today I got to spend a little bit of time in the shop cutting in the inlay cuffs & the upper edge banding by hand.

Listed below is a step x step account of how I tackled what last only required a jig & tablesaw. (But I’m not complaining!)

Step 1: Make where you want the bottom of the banding to start. I chose 4″ simply because it was a round number and looked good to my eye.

Step 2: Using a bevel gauge set the the correct angle & an xacto knife, gently score across the grain at your mark.

Step 3: Using a scrap piece of inlay banding for a spacer, place your bevel gauge to the exact location.

Step 4: Use the xacto again to score the upper line.

Step 5: Using a chisel, pear up to the line but draw the curled up piece back towards you to avoid tear out.

Step 6: Once you’ve pared back both sides to the line, use a small router plane set to the depth of the inlay banding to blow out the rest of the material.