A good tradeoff between new and expensive scroll saw and coping saw would be
an older model scroll saw, i bought two early 1950's 16" delta scroll saws
this summer (one for me and one for my sister) for a combined total of $40
plus extra $5 for new blades. I'll likely only use it, like you mentioned,
a few times a year, but for the money the saws work well and are a good buy.
Using a full size router may prove to be difficult on smaller inlays, but a
laminate trimmer just might be the ticket.
like this-
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...461938-0912743
They are easy to handle small routers and accept almost any 1/4" router bit.
Keep in mind these do not have a plunge base. Also BE ADVISED! I have not
personally used one of these to do inlays. In fact, I've only inlaid two
smaller projects in which i just used a utility knife and sharp chisels. But
I thought this info may help. --dave





"James "Cubby" Culbertson" wrote in message
...
Hiya,
Considering adding inlays to my toolbox of skills. I've never done them
before so have a few questions. I see David Mark's approach
on DIY is to cut them with a scrollsaw and rout out the receiving wood
with a 1/16" router bit. I'm wondering if other's use a different
approach (ie. dremmel tool to remove waste, coping saw to cut the inlay
etc....). I'd very much like to try this but don't want to pony up to
buy a scrollsaw that will probably get used twice a year. And quite
frankly, the thought of using my router to do intricate work like that
scares
me a bit

Cheers,
cc