Not very computer literate

[Goosebuster]

I'm a 78 Year old self taught engraver from B.C. Canada. Having some difficulty getting
inlays and or overlays to stay in place, any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

 

[SamW]

Are your inlays/overlays made of sheet or wire? The outlines of the inlay need to have a good undercut to hold edges firmly. Teeth should be cut at about a 70 degree angle to be strong enough not to collapse and yet provide enough holding power, and be in three different directions. The inlay metal needs to be well annealed, clean and set with enough force to get it to flow into the teeth/undercuts. Some inlay metals work harden rapidly and need to be set with the first punch. Pure gold does not harden so fast and is easier to set than silver, with the alloyed gold and platinum being quick to harden.

Perhaps describe your techniques used and more help can be offered.

 

[Goosebuster]

Thanks for the input, the only thing that I have missed previously
has been the 3 directions and maybe work hardening the 24 K gold
and pure silver. I will definitely give you suggestions a try.
Doing single line inlays is going well. you can see some in my 2nd
post , I have tried both sheet and wire in/on larger areas without much
success.

 

[SamW]

Another very important consideration is that the item into which you are inlaying must be solidly mounted so there is no bounce or give when you try to punch the inlay into the cavity. I use pitch or Thermoloc to mount smaller items to hardwood blocks. Whatever the item, it must be solidly mounted. This still gives me trouble when I get careless. I have successfully inlayed gold into .040" (1 mm) aluminum sheet by JB Welding the sheet to a half inch thick block of aluminum. It was later removed using a heat gun. Got it up to about 250 degrees and it popped loose.

James Meek's book The Art of Engraving gives great info on inlaying and I have used his methods for many years. I use his wire method with the cross hatched teeth for most inlaying thought I sometimes use small sheet pieces for leafs and such. I have found .016" wire works very well for me.

I am a 76 year old self taught engraver...and I have been through parts of BC, driving up the Alcan in '71 and back down in '85.

 

[Sam]

Here's a tutorial I wrote on gold overlay.

http://igraver.com/gold_overlay/

 

[Goosebuster]

Thanks Sam, I have some 99.9% silver left to work with and as soon as I am able to afford more 24 K gold, I will again give it a try.

 

[SamW]

I found that while 24k gold works well with the cross hatched teeth, silver was too firm to set properly so I have always reverted to cutting a line, undercutting and inlaying the silver, then cut a new line next to that and repeat across the inlay area.

 

[Goosebuster]

Don't know what i'm doing wrong when trying this method as I end up with fine steel lines separating the silver inlays. Have not figured out to alleviate this problem. Thanks again for you input.

 

[SamW]

Are you doing raised inlays or trying to do flush inlays. The distance between the first inlaid line and the second must be too much. They need to be closer than the thickness of the wire you are using. This method is for raised inlay and if you want to do flush, then the area needs to be taken down enough so that when you finish inlaying the metal, it can be smoothed down to the surface of the parent metal. For this method, I use a thicker wire than when doing the cross hatched teeth method.

 

[Goosebuster]

Sam I think you have solved my problem with this method as I have been trying to take it down to flush after setting the wire.
Thanks again and Take Care...........Larry (Goosebuster)