Thread: Best way to make 2mm inlay stringing?

Have a look at the video attached to this page - Thin Rip Tablesaw Jig | Rockler Woodworking and Hardware

You don't need to buy the guide it's pretty easy to make one. There is an even better video I've seen, but I can't find it, you might with a bit of a search.

Found it - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvxKrXYXc0g

Make a little block with a Stanley knife blade.

https://goo.gl/images/tw7ijH

I modified a marking guage so it can be adjusted . Blade is attached to the end.

With this you can cut 100 strips in 3 minutes. Zero waste.

Edit: you'll need to cut the board into 2mm veneers first on the BS, but that's easy... But do it in strips off the side. If you have a 25mm board, you'll get long lengths of 25mm wide veneers... Then slice with the little slicer. Easy peasy.

Originally Posted by Dengue

I need to make some inlay stringing from a 300mm long Silver Ash board. The stringing is to be 2 x 2 mm, and needs to have sharp edges.

Can anyone please suggest a neat way to make this stringing , so that there is minimal waste, and can be done safely on a tablesaw or bandsaw?

you should be able to cut a 2.1 mm square section from the edge of a wider board provided your table saw doesn't wobble and your fence is square and straight. (wastage though will be something fierce -- like around 60%.)
slitting a 2.1 mm wide piece from a 2.1 mm thick sawn veneer might be less wasteful, but you need to be able to thickness the sawn veneer.
If you don't own an old combination plane with a slitting cutter, you can use the blade on a marking gauge, or splurge on a specialist slitting cutter from Lie Nielsen https://www.lie-nielsen.com/product/...uge-?node=4180

Once you have the stringing, ideally you would thickness it with a thickness gauge like this one https://www.lie-nielsen.com/product/...uge-?node=4180

Of course, it helps heaps to use straight grained material.


BTW
how will you be cutting the slots for the stringing?

I know you said tablesaw or bandsaw so maybe this won’t help much but I used to cut on bandsaw to near enough, then feed 20 or so at once, pressed tightly together, through a drum sander sneaking it down to size.

Worked fine for 3mm, never tried 2mm.

Thanks Arron, that is exactly what I did for my last lot of 3mm ebony stringing, went well. Thought there might be a better way, hence this post

I like the way this guy did it here, with a jig not unlike the one above by Woodpixel, but using a marking gauge

But do it in strips off the side. If you have a 25mm board, you'll get long lengths of 25mm wide veneers... Then slice with the little slicer. Easy peasy.

Woodpixel, why do it this way? I am sure you have a valid reason. Why not cut a 2mm thick wide piece off the face of the board and slice it up, rather than off the edge as you suggested?

Originally Posted by Dengue

Woodpixel, why do it this way? I am sure you have a valid reason. Why not cut a 2mm thick wide piece off the face of the board and slice it up, rather than off the edge as you suggested?

one reason that I can see is a 25 mm thick board is still 25 mm thick after cutting a slice off the side.
A slice off the face will leave you with a thinner, potentially unusable board.

Originally Posted by Dengue

Woodpixel, why do it this way? I am sure you have a valid reason. Why not cut a 2mm thick wide piece off the face of the board and slice it up, rather than off the edge as you suggested?

It's easier!

I was thinking that if your board is 200mm wide, then you are going to get a LOT of stringing off that one slice. If you cut a 3mm strip off the side (sand it to 2mm), you get a 25mm wide piece that will be still easy to sand and give you 10 strips. You also get to keep that nice thick board.

If its a nice board with good figure, you wont see it in the stringing either.... so doing a full-face cut is wasteful. Keep those to make veneers. But, a side slice will carry the same colouration and match any veneers you happen off the same board.

When I do stringing, I've used commercial veneers. Ive just cut them to the desired width with a steel rule and scalpel. Two or three scores and it comes off. I've made a Stanley-blade-marking-gauge-slicer which works exceedingly well. There are ambitions to make a more block-like one that is adjustable.

My techniques are really basic. To improve, I've ordered some more books and videos off Larry Robinson (Robinson Custom Inlays) .... (His work is astounding!)... it's a skill that my soul has decided it needs to know! Seeing Geoff Hannah, Robinson and some other luthiers work, my boxes are so inadequate that I felt it was time to up-the-ante!

They don't need to be thick. 1mm is heaps. When I started I was paralysed by fear that I'd sand through, but that has not occured.