On 22 Dec 2006 06:06:50 -0800, "DonkeyHody"
wrote:

Thanks for the reply. I think I like your idea better than mine. I'd
be much more comfortable sanding the inlay to fit the recess than
routing the recess to fit the inlay.

I considered making the compass rose inlay myself from thicker stock,
but when I drew it up, I realized that there are several different odd
angles, which must all fit perfectly. To have any hope of finishing
this project before the rapture, I decided to just buy the inlay.

If you've got CAD or a similar vector drawing program (I like Corel
Draw for woodworking stuff, myself), you can make pretty quick work of
those odd angles by printing the entire thing out on card stock, then
carefully cutting out the pieces and using them as templates to trace
the shapes onto the wood or veneer. If you don't have card stock,
regular paper works too, but it's a good idea to only draw the pencil
from the paper onto the wood in a series of short slashes, so you
don't crumple up the edges.

After that, it's pretty easy to cut them slightly oversize on the
bandsaw and sand to final dimention as in the first post. Of course,
that doesn't matter much for this one, as you've already bought the
inlay, but if you decide to try some other stuff out, there may not be
a ready-made inlay that you want.