Official Luthiers Forum!

I recently attended a 3 day woodworking symposium in Williamsburg, VA. We spent 3 days looking extensively at 5 pieces of furniture, concentrating on how it was made and how to reproduce it. Very arcane.

Steve Latta is the recognized 18th c veneer and inlay guy and he has even helped L-N to come up with a set of stringing tools of his design:

http://www.lie-nielsen.com/inlay-tools/

There is one for accuratley cutting the width of tiny strips
One for thicknessing them easily
One for cutting the grooves on a curve
One for cutting grooves on a straight

The groove cutters are interesting in that the blade is made of steel in the same thickness as the groove to be cut, and the tip has saw-teeth cut in it - like a crosscut saw. Thay actually remove material accurately in the entire groove, with just s clean up with a blunt Exacto #11 needed to finish them off (Steve keeps one of these blades in a handle with blue tape on it so he knows it the dull one)

I have seen the design for the thicknessing guage, and even built one similar to it.

Here are a series of photos showing how he gets his "banding" together to hold a shape, and how he uses a caul to glue a curved surface:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ruby1638/s ... 461915933/

I know that you all have ways of doing things, but I thought that something in here would be useful. Hope there is something in there for everyone.

Inlay certainly can add a nice touch to a piece of furniture. Those are some fine LN tools. Cutter and thicknesser would be a welcome addition. Thanks for sharing that.