Australian Wood Review - June 2018

12 Australian Wood Review

TOOLS & EQUIPMENT

Adding inlay as a feature detail in your

woodwork can be a way to lift an

otherwise plain piece of work. Over

the years I have often used 3mm thick

square and rectangular pieces of wood

as inlaid motifs on table- and desktops.

The first step is to size the inlay to final

dimension, lay it in position and then

trace the outline with a marking knife.

The inlay recess can then be removed

with a router and chisel and the inlay

glued in place, preferably with it sitting

proud by around one millimetre. After

the glue is dry it can be planed and

sanded flush.

However an alternative that offers an

almost unlimited number of design

options is to use a template routing

kit. Inlay kits are made from brass

and fit into a round base on a router.

If your router doesn’t have a round

recess in the base you can buy an

aftermarket base.

The inlay kit will include a down cut

spiral cutter, brass template guide, a

centring pin and an offset bush that

compensates for the cutter diameter.

Fit the bush assembly into the router

base and ensure it is perfectly centred

by using the centring pin. You clamp

your template to the workpiece and

rout the recess with the offset bush in

place to a depth of around 2mm. The

offset bush is then removed and the

inlay shape routed.

I find it best to have the inlay piece

about 1mm thicker than the depth of

the recess. I rout the inlay into thicker

stock and saw it off with the bandsaw.

You will need to square out the corners

of the recess with a chisel as this will be

rounded to the diameter of the cutter.

Recently I trialled two inlay kits. The

Whiteside inlay kit from Professional

Woodwork Supplies comes complete

with a 1/8" cutter for about $

(photo 1).

Veritas and Whiteside Inlay Template Routing Kits

Reviewed by Raf Nathan

1. Showing the Whiteside kit mounted
   in a round base.


2. The Veritas 1/4" down cut router cutter is
   purchased separately. The offset bush is
   secured with an allen key.


3. An off the shelf dovetail key template
   mounted on a workpiece. Paper was used
   to pack out the thickness of the template
   to clear the brass bush. Two dovetail
   recesses are shown already made.


4. Routing the inlay piece.

$53-

2

4

1

3