Thread: Inlay table top with a circular saw?

Hello Standby,
I have done this with a trim router with a sharp 3mm bit in it. Cutting about 2mm deep. A circular saw will give excessive tearout across the grain and create issues with the corners. With using the router a final cut with a tiny chisel squares the corners nicely. If you put a slight taper on your inlay stock-effectively turning it into a wedge, when you push it into the groove in the table top it will give a very clean crisp line. This tapering can be done by sitting the stock into a shallow, slightly angled sawn groove in some scrap. The depth of the groove needs to be such that when you plane or cabinet scrape the bead stock to size it will wedge into the table top groove slightly tightly. Good luck.
Cheers, tony.

Originally Posted by noty

Hello Standby,
I have done this with a trim router with a sharp 3mm bit in it. Cutting about 2mm deep. A circular saw will give excessive tearout across the grain and create issues with the corners. With using the router a final cut with a tiny chisel squares the corners nicely. If you put a slight taper on your inlay stock-effectively turning it into a wedge, when you push it into the groove in the table top it will give a very clean crisp line. This tapering can be done by sitting the stock into a shallow, slightly angled sawn groove in some scrap. The depth of the groove needs to be such that when you plane or cabinet scrape the bead stock to size it will wedge into the table top groove slightly tightly. Good luck.
Cheers, tony.

Thank you very much for your reply. I used my Festool router with an edge guide and successfully did the groove with a straight bit however I used a 10mm bit. My question is regarding the tapering. I am confused as to what you mentioned. Do you have any photographs to graphically illustrate what you're saying? Thanks

Sorry, I don't have any photos.
I will run through a the process and see how we go.
Say I want a beading that fits a 10mm wide by 5mm deep groove. I make some bead stock up that is 12mm wide x6mm deep. I take my power saw and set the blade angle to 5 degrees and the depth of cut to 11mm. Using a straight edge, I cut a rip longer than the longest piece of beading I need for the table top, down a piece of flat scrap. I then move the straight edge over 4mm and cut again. I then move the straight edge back 2mm and cut again. (I cut the two outside cuts first as the blade is working evenly through timber in both these cuts giving a straighter result). This gives me a groove in the scrap 11mm deep and 6mm wide at an angle of 5 degrees. I sit the 12mm x6mm beading into this groove and proceed to remove the protruding part of the beading with a plane etc. I make sure the beading is well seated in the groove bottom before I start. (I may need to cabinet scrape the 6mm thickness down a whisker to get the bead into the cleanup groove). When I pull the beading out, one edge has the 5 degree taper on it, giving the bead a one sided wedge-like cross section. If it does not fit into the groove in the table top I flip it over and clean the other edge down a little. I hope this makes the picture clearer. I can assure you that the end result really justifies going through this process.

I do not know if you have a table saw-certainly be the tool to cut this bead trimming groove.

Cheers, Tony.

I thought that was a bit too much however I did end up gluing it up nicely - refer to the attachment photos.

Looks ok, was this your first inlay?