Inlay work on a dining room table topper. (2 Viewers)

[Stylin]

Anybody ever play with inlay? I want to make a really high end looking table topper and do some nice inlay work. I'm thinking something like these pictures I found on google.

I'm guessing the only way to do this is to start with a full sheet of hardwood ply and route out what I want inlayed in that. Then if I want a hardwood boarder around the edge and the grains to line up I'd actually have to route that out of a full sheet as well? Seems like a ton of waste and I'm wondering if theres a better way. Also, can you buy 1/8" think 4x8 exotic woods to inlay with? I don't think I'd want to work with anything thiner. This is sounding really expensive ..

 

[Mental Nomad]

Usually, there's no routing involved for what you're showing here. The base layer is just flat plywood.

Then, you get thin veneers of all the woods you want on the surface. At places like http://www.rockler.com/wood/veneer . You cut and fit them carefully, glue up, sand, finish.

Often, the edge piece is done in solid wood, so that you can use a router to put a profile on the outside edge without exposing the plywood.

 

[Mental Nomad]

Inlay usually refers to smaller inserts into a bigger piece of wood - big flat sections like you're showing are more often called veneering (or marquetry, if you get fancy with your designs.)

 

[Stylin]

Maybe I'll play around with that. In the past I've just bought A grade veneer plywood and done oval toppers. It would be much easier to keep it square and use veneer. I was just thinking about how I could cut arcs in veneer to lay around the oval and couldn't think of a good way to do it. I would rather easily however be able to rout arcs say 1/8" deep and inlay solid hardwood into it.

I guess my question is on that round table, how do you veneer the edge like that? Or your saying thats solid wood and the circle inner area is veneer?

 

[lnlver]

I think there are two ways to do this; routing a recess for the veneer, and overlaying the veneer. Veneers are around 1/28" in thickness.

If you decide to rout, mark an outline of the pattern and locate the router in the middle and take out increasing circular sections as you approach the pattern's outline. The depth you rout should be slightly less than the thickness of the veneer; test this several times on scrap wood first. An Exacto knife (new blades) and a steel rule will be helpful.

If you overlay, you can probably get the surface 99.99% smooth with multiple coats of polyurethane or similar finish.

 

[Junior24xx]

Haven't really done this but am hoping you'll create a build thread.

 

[Rebelwork]

Did you ever start the table?

 

[Colquhoun]

Last time the OP was on was 2.5 years ago...

 

[Rebelwork]

Another one bites the dust...

 

[ekricket]

Last time the OP was on was 2.5 years ago...

he’s been working on that inlay....

 

[allforcharity]

I wonder if Tony would consider working with resin....

 

[T_Chan]

Like colored epoxy inlay?

 

[allforcharity]

Like colored epoxy inlay?

Like for a dining topper

 

[DZPoker]

Like for a dining topper

+1!

 

[T_Chan]

That would be relatively easy for me. I do have my CNC machine that can engrave anything into a dining table cover and I can inlay it with colored epoxy. So same as what I attached on the chip tray, except on the dining table cover.

 

[Rebelwork]

That would be relatively easy for me. I do have my CNC machine that can engrave anything into a dining table cover and I can inlay it with colored epoxy. So same as what I attached on the chip tray, except on the dining table cover.

If your using the CNC you can probably do the metal inlays as we did. It's another thing on a table cover to look into. I'm not offering it,but you might?

 

[T_Chan]

Yeah brass or aluminum would be do-able as well. It would have to be a soft metal but I don't see why not.

Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Rebelwork]

Just look into metal laminates..