On 18 Feb 2005 10:11:13 -0800, "TrailRat"
wrote:

How does one go about inlaying metal into wood.

Lots of ways. Depends on the method and the materials. Your main
problem is to hold metal into the surface of the wood.

You may form the inlay beforehand, or form it in situ, depending on
how you're doing the adhesion.



Mechanical pegs or fasteners.

Usually only used for inlaying (strictly insetting) large plaques into
a flat surface.

Adhesive.

Form your inlay, glue it into place. Works well with twisted brass
wire, as is commonly seen on Indian import work.

Adhesive (powder cold casting)

Use a finely powdered metal mixed with an adhesive. Very easy, and
there's a wide range of metal powders available from fibreglass
suppliers.

Mechanical deformation.

Usually done with a soft wire, sometimes gold or silver (not
sterling). Form a narrow purfling (groove) in the wwood, ideally with
a slight dovetailed undercut and less shallow than the wire. Then
place the wire into the groove and hammer it into place, expanding the
wire sideways and locking it into place. Can also be done with freshly
annealed copper wire and a harder wood.

Mechanical locking can also be done with a narrow strip, folded into a
V.

Hot casting

Rarely used, as the wood chars from the heat of the molten metal. Can
be done easily with Woods metal or Cerrobend (lead-based low melting
point alloys that melt in boiling water), but these are generally grey
and unattractive. It's possibly workable in some timbers with a lead
solder, marginally so with a lead free pewter (this stays shinier
longer). Other metals are pretty much impractical. Sulphur inlay
works well though - an old 18th century technique.
http://www.codesmiths.com/shed/works...phur_inlay.htm

Green timber.

Inlay into wet timber and use drying shrinkage to hold it. Needs a
good understanding of shrinkage, and a timber that shrinks "square"
without warping.