Decorative inlay is an age-old technique that enhances the appearance of woodworking projects. Unfortunately, some woodworkers shy away from inlaying because they think it's too difficult and time-consuming. It's not, if you follow this simple approach.
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A simple shop-made jig holds the table leg and helps make the inlay grooves. Note the markings indicating where to start and stop the router cuts.
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The heart of decorative inlay is in the use of contrasting but complementary species of wood. Done well, the contrasting textures and colors will create beautiful designs that highlight shapes and shadows. An Arts and Crafts end table I have made previously was milled from mahogany. I chose a strip of very plain hard maple (light colored with little visible grain or figure), broken by ebony plugs to contrast with the rich red mahogany. The maple strips are long slender rectangles like the legs, and the plugs, although square, were turned 45° to appear diamond shaped. Both accents were chosen to enhance the look of the piece ... and the approach I used is easy to duplicate.
Jigs and Power Tools: The Perfect Combo
After the legs were cut to size and the basic shape completed, the plug mortises and inlay grooves are chopped and plowed. To cut the grooves, I built the jig shown at right to hold the legs securely in place while I guided a router exactly down the center of the leg (I used a trim router ... but the jig can accommodate any size router).
Using a mocked up leg made from scrap lumber, I tested the cuts and laid out where I wanted to start and stop each groove. (There are two per leg.) Once I marked the jig with these starting and stopping points, I was ready to rout. I formed two 1/4" wide by 1/4" deep grooves on each leg. As you know, the end of a groove formed by a router is rounded. I wanted my inlay strips to be rectangular, so the grooves had to be squared up at each end. I could have done it by hand, but I had already decided to chop the plug mortises with a mortising machine, so I simply slapped a 1/4" mortising chisel into the machine and squared up all 16 groove ends (per table) in a snap.
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| Mortising machines are like small drill presses that are designed to "drill square holes." |
Now it was on to the plug mortises. As mentioned, I used my mortising machine to chop the 3/8" square holes which accept the ebony plugs. Then I drilled pilot holes through the legs — centered in the mortise holes — because the plugs actually hide screws that attach the table's corner blocks to the legs.
Beautiful
and practical.
Making the Inlay and Plugs
I formed the grooves and plug mortises before I made the inlay strips and plugs for a very good reason ... I just hate to do things twice. By forming the grooves first, I was able to cut the maple inlay strips to fit them perfectly ... the first time. Likewise with the plugs. Ripping skinny little pieces of hardwood on the table saw can be dangerous if you don't take the proper precautions. For starters, be sure to use a zero-clearance insert. Plane oversized 1/4" thick slabs of maple and rip the strips to width using a good push stick. Cutting them to length is no problem by comparison.
Making the plugs is very similar. First, I buy or create some 3/8" thick ebony. Plane or sand its thickness to exactly match the mortises you chopped. In the same manner as the maple inlay strips, carefully rip a couple of 3/8" wide sticks. Now for the fun part: with a piece of fine sandpaper, gently dome both ends of the sticks. I use a buffing wheel to polish those ends to create a nice low luster. Then I turn to my band saw, equipped with a miter gauge, to crosscut the plugs from each end. Repeat this process until you have plenty of plugs.
Glue the inlay strips in place with a mean amount of yellow glue and sand them smooth after the glue cures (I use a scraper, followed by a random orbit sander). That's it; now you're ready to assemble the table. The plugs, which hide key assembly screws, go in at the end.
This jig's job is to hold the leg securely and guide the router exactly down the center of the leg as it cuts. You can adjust the jig to fit a standard router or trim router. Test your setup on a leg blank mocked up from scrap wood.