Thread: Gold infil in timber

most of the time brass is used for decorative inlays into timber floors. can you post a pic of what you are thinking of doing and then we might be better able to assist you.

Gold leaf on a floor that was going to walked on would need very heavy coating, something like Rustins Plastic coating and several coats. gold leaf is less than 1 micron in thickness, not a Inlay but a overlay, also it is gold and has a gold price.Depending on exactly what your are trying to achieve brass may be a better alternative some more information may be helpful

brass sounds good. Can CNC cut through brass? design a shape to cut the shape out in brass and then the negative shape in timber

with the right tools brass can be machined/cut. I would do your drawing in a cad program and then send that with your enquiry to a cnc place to get a quote on it. The other option would be to get it laser cut.

The 'traditional' method would be routing your pattern in the wood then hammering brass wire into the groove. Brass can be cut by a CNC water jet if you're modernistically inclined.

Originally Posted by qwertyu

brass sounds good. Can CNC cut through brass? design a shape to cut the shape out in brass and then the negative shape in timber

With the right bit you can cut it on a home CNC router, you just have to set your feed and spindle speed appropriately.

If I do this probably best to get a professional to do the CNC. How accurate is CNC? Say I bought 1.2mm brass sheet and ask for the timber to be cut 1.1mm and then sand the remaining 0.1mm - sounds like a good plan?

I would also imagine needing to factor in tearout of the timber too?

Very accurate. Your average desktop CNC should be good for +/- 0.01mm, industrial machines are even better.

To prevent tearout, you will need to have it run with a downcut spiral. If they don't have one they may charge you for the bit, or they may be happy for you to provide a bit and return it to you.

The traditional way to inset the brass would be to dovetail the groove and planish the brass to fit however these day you would get away with araldite or similar

Can anyone give a recommendation to a place which can do the CNC work in SE Melb?

Also a technique to polish the brass? I would imagine sanding will leave marks and using brasso will absorb into the timber

Michael Fortune makes a series of chairs into which he inlays silver. To level the silver he uses a card scraper as any form of sanding ruins the timber. Look / search on FineWoodworking for details.

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