Raising teeth

[Dani Girl]

Do I have this right?

 

[Marrinan]

You got it. As the gold is pressed into the field should l provide solid grip to the metal. The only way it should be able to be removed would be to literally pick it to pieces. Fred

 

[SamW]

Precisely how I do wire type inlay. Works really well for me. The first time I tried this many years ago it was on a very old action and the metal was not up to forming strong teeth...they kept crumbling and I could not get the gold to stick. It was very frustrating and it was not until I tried it in good metal that I started to understand and enjoy its properties.

PS...I also want to mention that when inlaying animals (or other 3D type subjects) I actually sculpt the general structure into the steel prior to cutting the teeth. This allows for making a more sculptured appearance to the inlay without cutting through the gold into the steel because once the gold is set it already has much of the shape of the subject. Since I started doing this early on, I have not had a problem of getting steel showing through the inlay. I use .016" wire and estimate once the inlay is pounded in the overall thickness above the steel is about .008" or perhaps a bit more. Of course, you will want to use what ever works for you!

 

[Dani Girl]

Thanks SamW.

I just got your inlay dvd from FEGA. Soft Iron inlay. Fantastic demonstration. Thank you for sharing with us. Absolutely worth it if anyone is wandering.

 

[SamW]

Thank You Danae. Always remember to have a plan B.

I would like to add that the cross hatched teeth work really well with 24k gold but it does not work for me with silver (except very small wire) and especially not with platinum. With those I go back to the old individual parallel lines set close to each other so the harder wire can be pounded in with more energy than the cross hatched teeth will stand.

 

[monk]

Do I have this right?

i have never done a lot of inlay work. i never used a grid system like you show. i just did the cuts by eyeball. whatever works is the thing to do. how do you do this-- inkjet/laser transfer ?

 

[Dani Girl]

Ok. If you want to do the inkjet transfer thing.

You need, Damar Varnish, Windsor and newtor or art spectrum i think are good... others maybe too.

Baking paper

The right printer, have heard all printers weren't born equal for this job

And last but not least heat proof tape to stick the baking paper to the paper.

Ask me to and I'll get the boss to remind me where he gets the sticky tape from. We use it for heat pressing shirts and heat transferring ink to sublimatable metal in the same heat press at work.

(I'm trying to make sure I have the theory right, tried it once, epic failure, too much vibration in my setup i think)

Merry Christmas Monk, SamW, Fred,... and everyone. My best wishes to all of you

 

[SamW]

Like you Monk, I just do it by "eyeball". It does not have to be perfectly spaced and it only takes a little practice to get good enough. Laying a transfer on the sculpted area would be problematic to say the least.

 

[Dani Girl]

Ok, my next post is the contact details of O'Brien engineering that sell heat proof sticky tape and a picture of the tape itself. Fantastic stuff. Ideal for the baking paper, inkjet printer, damaar varnish transfer method. Won't get stuck in your printer, do use one run though, don't skimp don't re-use it or you might get it stuck... I did once.

 

[jerrywh]

I never use cross hatch for inlay or overlaying golds or any other metal. I use single tooth for everything I do. In my opinion it holds tighter and will work in any situation. There are places in cavities where I find it impossible to crosshatch. I have learned to single tooth with the gravermach in rapid time. It works for me on silver and copper as well. But the efficiency of the teeth is related to the strength of the metal you are working on. I am not arguing against the cross hatch method. I just prefer single teeth.

 

[Thierry Duguet]

I never use cross hatch for inlay or overlaying golds or any other metal. I use single tooth for everything I do. In my opinion it holds tighter and will work in any situation. There are places in cavities where I find it impossible to crosshatch. I have learned to single tooth with the gravermach in rapid time. It works for me on silver and copper as well. But the efficiency of the teeth is related to the strength of the metal you are working on. I am not arguing against the cross hatch method. I just prefer single teeth.

I use that same technique, for inlay and overlay, time saving and material saving too. I think that density and multi-directional orientation of the teeth are what matter the most, I did use that method a few time to inlay 24K gold into sterling silver.