Sunday, October 30, 2011

Shell Inlay: A presentation by Marco Cecala

Marco Cecala, a local woodworking friend, recently did a presentation for the Arizona Association of Fine Woodworking on shell inlay.  I got the presentation on video knowing it will be interesting to a lot of you!

Marco's a great presenter, which is why this video won't seem like it's 45 minutes long!  So get a big bucket of popcorn and a sheet for some notes.  You're going to love it.  Personally, it was difficult to edit because I would get wrapped up in the presentation and forget I was supposed to be scrutinizing the video cuts!  Oh, and speaking of video, I'm getting a better tripod... sorry for some jerky motion... and also, next time I'll get there early enough to secure a third-row spot for better recording!

As for taking notes, I'll save you the trouble of making a list of tools you'd need to try this out.  Look below the video for a list along with some suggested places to get them.



Tools and Supplies
Here's a list of the tools and supplies mentioned in the presentation:


Marco uses a gravers' handle on the barrette file; it's basically a bulb handle with a flat that is aligned with the flat blade of the file.  I sent some handle-less files to Jim Coons who I met at WIA'11 and who makes the awls at lathemade.  He's assembling the file on a gravers' handle for me turned out of some nice red palm.  If his handles on a barrette file interest you, just contact him since he'll know what you're talking about.

3 comments:

  • Anonymous said...
     

    Wonderful demonstration, but I think when I get to the point of doing inlay, I want to use a more macroscopic approach, rather than Marco’s microscopic approach. Maybe something on the order of hogging out the inlay area with an adze.

    Dean

  • Anonymous said...
     

    I just wanted to point out that the router base you linked to looks very similar to the one from Stewart-MacDonald which is a lot less expensive (though without the built-in light.)

  • HalfInchShy said...
     

    Yes... in a conversation with William Ng, he said that base was the starting point for designing his base. Since William's is a custom tool and small volumes, it takes a hit on the price :-/