Ebony/Boxwood. I did this with a CNC - but pointy inlays are still quite tricky.
Pro luthier reporting in.
If you’re using a 3 axis CNC router for carving both the pockets and the inlay pieces themselves, do yourself a favor and get a small diameter end mill (.03125”-.020”).
I do the majority of my pocketing with a 1/16” down cut bit and then reestablish the outer profile with the smaller cut.
Keep your RPMs high and your feed rate low. Take small DOC bites even on cleanup cuts. Those small bits break when you breath on them wrong, so be gentle and don’t overload them. I run mine at 18000rpm, a feed rate of around 10ipm and never push my depth passes past 1/3 of the cutters OD.
Additionally, you may want to resize your pocket a little tighter. I like to oversize my pockets by about .0025” depending on the material, and don’t be afraid to leave your pocket on the machine while you do your test fits so you can open it up further for a better fit.
Also, ebony dust and thin CA glue are great at hiding gaps.
Sorry for the info dump. I just get fired up about this kind of work since it’s my bread and butter.
I love the design so far and look forward to more progress pics in the future!
I have to admit something: I cheated. While I called this an inlay, I just cut out the parts from veneer. So this is more of a “betweenlay”. The trick is to use a pointy v-carve bit and cut with the point exactly at the bottom of the material. This way I got these sharp zero-radius corners. I then flipped the ebony parts, so the pointy parts are on the top. What I forgot is to compensate for the resulting gap, roughly 0.5mm. Luckily I left some material on the sides of the ebony, so I could push everything together a bit.
I will definitely need your tip with the CA glue for the remaining gaps, though. 😅
Ahh the good old marquetry approach. I dig it.
Feel free to DM me if there is anything else I might be able to help with.
Good luck!
Cool! That must have been a tiny bit to cut the negative pointy ends.
What is it though? Kinda looks like a guitar handle?
CNC on those delicate “fins”? Well done.
How big is the CNC? Professional or home built?
The milling area of my CNC is 800x500mm, enough for guitars or even a cello. It’s a Sorotec CNC with HF spindle, so “prosumer” level by German standards.
14 string?
Yup, 7 double courses. Tuned like a renaissance lute.
Sick. Because of that last Bad Bunny album, I’ve been looking at the Puerto Rican Cuatro (10 string) but I don’t think I’m skilled enough in stringed instruments to make good use of it.
Well done, looks really good.
A little video tip for doing inlays manually by a seasoned master craftsman.. It’s from german television but maybe the auto translation will help you if you don’t speak it.
Wow, this is awesome!! Looks so feathery and delicate. The contrast is eye-catching; very gold-on-black luxurious
