Inlay Material Preparation

Home Up

INLAY MATERIAL PREPARATION

The first step is grading the .050 thick mother of pearl material slabs that are purchased in random shapes....any pearl that has off color, fisheye pattern or imperfections in thickness, worm holes, etc., I grade as seconds or culls.  First quality material that has rainbow colors and good reflection, I will make a pencil mark on the best side (face up).  Some raw material blanks are thick enough to get several slices out of the raw shell from a single section cut and you can have book matched patterns but since my fingerboard pattern features a single design piece of inlay, therefore there  is no need to find book matched raw material inlay blanks and the chance of you getting book matched raw inlay blanks at random is about nil unless you cut your own blanks from the raw oyster shell or specially order them which can be very expensive.   The above pix has only a few pieces of shell that is first quality.  The piece of material on the bottom right is a second for sure because of two different grains patterns and I do not want any inlay that has two different distinct grain patterns on it.  Depending on the size of the pattern you are cutting, you might be able to work around such grain pattern changes.

      

The graded mother of pearl blanks (side that has a pencil mark on it) is facing up and then placed on a piece of balsa wood 1/4 inch thick by 3 inches wide by 8 inches in length which matches the 3/16 inch thick aluminum plates I use to separate and compress 4 or 5 pieces stacked on top of one another.  The mother of pearl material is dry fitted to get the most usage out of the wood/inlay material.  The above pix is for demonstration purposes only since I already have the mother of pearl glued to the balsa wood for cutting designs out for custom turkey box calls and the above 4 inch length of material was scrap left over from that project.

After the mother of pearl is dry fitted to the balsa wood, each individual piece of inlay blank receives a thin coat of Titebond glue being sure to coat the entire bottom side of mother of pearl and place it back on the balsa wood.  When all pieces of the mother of pearl have glue applied and positioned onto the balsa wood, allow to set about 10 minutes before placing a piece of aluminum on the bottom of the balsa wood and a piece of aluminum on top of each layer of the mother of pearl and balsa wood.  Apply a clamp to each end being careful that the inlay blanks do not move overhanging the balsa wood;  the reason for allowing to sit 10 minutes is to alloy the glue to partially set.   Allow to dry overnight , preferably 24 hours giving the glue a chance to harden.

Above pix of mother of pearl glued to the balsa wood after allowed to dry.  Any glue that has leaked onto the top of the mother of pearl can easily be scraped off with a utility knife or scraper.

LEAVING ON A SPIRITUAL NOTE

If you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, please take this moment to accept him by Faith into your Life, whereby Salvation will be attained.   

Ephesians 2:8 - 2:9 8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Romans 10:17 “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

Open this link about faith in the King James Bible.

Romans 10:9 “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

Open this link of Bible Verses About Salvation, King James Version Bible (KJV).

Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”

Micah 6:8 “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”

Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."

IN GOD WE TRUST - GOD BLESS AMERICA - "FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD, THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, THAT WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM SHOULD NOT PERISH, BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE"   JOHN 3:16 KJV 

NEXT PAGE

BANJO CONSTRUCTION HOME PAGE