inlay question

Roger, the dots are not made for a jointer for sure, they are fragile and thin. After you glue them, just a little proud, you can sand them and using progressive sheets of sandpaper can bring them back to a high luster.

Roger,

Daryl and I took a class last fall on inlaying mother-of pearl. I agree with Charlie and I would stay away from the jointer.

I found that the materials cut easily with my normal inlay tools (fret saw) and, when cemented into a routed-out space, they sanded easily.

Bill

I’ve frequently used mother of pearl dots, and you need to pre-polish them. That I do is stick them on the back of double sided tape, and then sand them, starting with 320 grit, and working my way up to about to the uber fine grits of micro mesh. I then glue them into the holes of the surfaces that are already totally planed, sanded and ready for finish. A drop of glue, tweezers to handle them and it works great. THere is no way they can be jointed, not a chance. It’s a very brittle material, and don’t use any power tools or edged tools on them at all.

I have oiled over them, but they don’t really need a finish. There is no perfect adhesive for it. Epoxy works well, but your project is already sanded. CA can work, especially if your hole is the right depth, because you don’t want any to work it’s way to the surface. But the CA won’t have the same shear strength as epoxy. A drop of DUCO cement works well also. A very small drop into the hole.

I realize I should have said why to pre finish them. The dots, more than regular sheets, don’t have the size to display the sheen and 3D qualities you want, and you don’t want to micro mesh a regular wood surface. Also, sand a few extras, because some can pop off the tape and Murphy’s Law states (and I can prove) the dots will travel to the one spot on the floor both farthest away from you and onto an spot the exact same color.

There’s the answer! I learned something as well, thanks.

Like most inlay techniques, it’s easy once you know the “secret,” which really isn’t all that tough. The most difficult part: Drilling the hole to the exact depth. For that you need some spare dots, some practice wood, a sharp brad point bit and a drill press. It’s almost impossible to do it with a hand drill, because you are drilling to maybe 1/16″ or less, and nobody does just one dot. You want them flush to start with (since you’ve already polished them). The brad point bit also gives you a pilot hole where the excess glue can go.

I think you can use Titebond II (not III or original) if you wipe down the dots and hole with acetone. Which is way too much trouble, so I went with Duco, which has held up for years. However, once the dot is in, let it cure overnight, because it can still pop out, and that dot will also obey Murphy’s Law.