I'm planning a wooden screen to hide the fireplace when it's not in
use. It will have three hinged sections of red oak, each with a raised
panel in a frame. The center panel will be about 18" wide X about 30"
high. I want to inlay an oval compass rose 7 1/2" X 10 3/4" in the
center panel. Here's the inlay
http://inlays.com/8000_11_Marquetry_Compass_Rose.asp
I've never tried inlay before, and I'll have a good bit of time and
money invested before I get to that part, so I want to get it right.

Here's my plan:
1. Glue the inlay to a piece of 1/4" oak plywood.
2. Carefully cut and sand the plywood edges up to the inlay.
3. Use an inlaying bit & guide set to create an undersized template of
the inlay.
4. Use the undersized template to route the outline of the oval in the
panel.
5. Use my router hand-held, with the router table plate attached, to
route out the field of the oval in the panel. Due to the size of the
inlay, I may have to go back to the router table to reach the center of
the oval.
6. Be sure that the inlay is a few thousandths deeper than the inlay
so I'll be sanding the panel down to the inlay instead of sanding
through the inlay trying to get to the panel.
7. Glue the plywood inlay in the panel.
8. Sand carefully until flush.

I'm trusting the plywood to absorb the seasonal movement of the panel
without destroying the inlay. My house gets much dryer than my shop,
so the panel should be in compression instead of tension. Those of you
with inlay experience please tell me if I'm out in left field here.

DonkeyHody
"We are all ignorant, just about different things." - Will Rogers