How I Make Cool Metal Inlays

by Ninjosh

327K1.1K94

Intro: How I Make Cool Metal Inlays

Have you been trying to figure out how to make your woodworking really stand out? Yeah, me too...

Luckily for both of us, inlays are a great way to set your work apart in a crowded market full of carpenters. Or maybe you just want to make a kick-ass wedding present... Either way, follow these instructions and you'll be sure to make something bad-ass. In this instructable, I'll be sharing with you how to make shiny metal inlays with copper and brass wire. With enough talent, creativity, and practice, people will be thinking you stole your pieces from vault in Asgard! This is my first instructable to hold onto your pants, kids!

STEP 1: Things You May Need

It is worth pointing out that the key in making clean looking inlays is precision. This is why you want various pliers with different head shapes and a rolling mill. In the coming steps, I'll talk about some workarounds if these tools are hard to come by for you.

Here is a list of what I use:

Hard wood (oak for example)

A rolling mill

Copper/brass wire (the gauge I use varies but start with 14 gauge)

A heat source like a torch or stove (anything that will get your metal red hot)

Various pliers (I recommend using jeweler's pliers as it is more forgiving on the metal)

Various wire cutters (flush cutters are my favorite)

A file (I use the one on my multi-tool)

A tiny hammer

Lots of super glue

Sander and sandpaper

Polishing accessories

And exactly one metric ton of patience

STEP 2: A Note About Hardwood

Use hardwood only.

I can already hear some of you saying "But it may crack when you're just pounding the metal in."

And you're right. It will crack if you're just pounding the metal in. But we're making our inlays look bad-ass, remember? This requires that we use skill.

It will not crack if you do the following:

a) match the size of your wire to the void you cut (that is the space that your inlay will be filling)

b) cut a clean, uniform void into your wood

c) anneal your metal (that is what your torch it for)

d) tap the wire in with a tiny hammer

I will absolutely do my best to explain the finer details when we get to them. But please understand that there is no teacher like experience. You will probably mess up the first couple times but that's what makers do, right? There is no better teacher than experience.

STEP 3: Make a Void in the Wood

There are several ways to cut your void.

I use vector based software and a laser cutter, but it is entirely possible to do this any number of ways. But in my opinion, laser cutters are as precise as it gets (plus they're freakin lasers!) so that's why I've gravitated towards them.

Not many of us have access to a laser cutter so I recommend using a rotary tool with a bit the same size as your desired void width. I'll include a couple pictures from when I didn't use a laser cutter. I encourage you to experiment, make jigs, or make friends who have the tools you need.

...Or you make a pantograph. I have not tried this method but this is probably the next best thing to a laser cutter or cnc router. Also it is very affordable to make. Check this link out to see what I mean:


Also, subscribe to this guy if you like woodworking and cool jigs.

STEP 4: Prepare Your Wire

Using your mill (or a hammer), get your wire to the desired thickness.

"What is the desired thickness" I hear you say. Allow me to answer:

The desired thickness is when you can push your wire into your inlay by hand. But not easily.That is the best way I can put it. You'll have to experiment a bit to see what I mean.

After you have gotten the wire to the right thickness, you should anneal the wire, especially if you have to hammer it to size. Annealing for our purposes here means heating it up to red hot and letting the metal cool. This makes the wire soft enough to manipulate into your void without cracking your wood.

First, I roll my wire to size using my mill. Then I take a length of the rolled wire, coil it up, and heat it with my propane torch. After I get the wire red hot, I dunk it in some water and voila! Soft, easy to work with metal.

STEP 5: Apply One Metric Ton of Patience

This is easily the most time consuming step, depending on your design. Straight lines are very easy to inlay and won't take you long at all. Curves are rewarding but very time consuming. Keep this in mind when choosing your design.

Your inlay should not be one continuous wire around sharp corners. There are a couple reasons for this:

1) It is really difficult (impossible) to get sharp corners by bending wire

2) Sanding (the next step) will cause the metal to expand. Having multiple metal pieces instead of just one long connected piece provides room for expansion. Otherwise, the metal will bend up and out of the void, ruining your work.

Lay a bead of superglue into the void that you are about to inlay. If it is a small portion, lay the bead along the entire length (small = 1 - 3 inches). But it the portion is long, lay a bead intermittently. The wire inlay is also being held in with friction so there is no need to go overboard with the glue.

Be sure to use jeweler's pliers on this step. Anything with teeth will damage your already soft metal. For curves, bend your wire to shape first, then set the inlay. Light taps with your hammer should be enough to get the inlay set into the void. Do not hammer it in all the way. This is important for the next step. Hammer it in 3 quarters of the way.

Be mindful of how the wire cutters effect the ends of your wire. The flush cutters work great for me here. Just make sure you orient them to suit your needs. Use the file to shape the ends of your wire if you need to. If the tapping sound bothers you, try putting a piece of cloth under the workpiece. This will help dampen the noise.

Just to be safe, give the glue a day to set completely before moving on to the next step. This is where a lot of trial and error comes into play so don't be to hard on yourself. Mistakes are where learning happens.

STEP 6: Sand Sand Sand and Polish

We can move onto sanding once all the metal is in.

Please don't use a belt sander. You'll probably ruin your piece that way. Use a random orbit sander. It's slower but that is the point here.

You need to keep sanding until you get the metal flush with the wood. Use your sense of touch to gauge this.

Once you have it flush, gradually use higher and higher grit sandpaper using a palm sander or just a block and sandpaper. I go all the way up to 2000 grit but that is because I like a near mirror finish.

Speaking of mirror finishes, rub n brite and a polishing cloth for jewelry is what I use for my final polish. Polishing this way make the pieces look like they're glow-in-the-dark. You'll see what I mean when you try it.

STEP 7: Show It Off!

What you do with you piece at this point is completely up to you.

Sell them. GIve them away. Show them off in your living room.

Whatever you want, really.

Use my video in the intro as a guide if any of my instructions don't cut it for you. Be sure to check out my instagram if you like seeing pieces like these: https://www.instagram.com/jkinlays

I'll try to put some new pieces up on etsy too: https://www.etsy.com/shop/JKinlays

75 Comments

yojoe1103 2 years ago

Amazing guide, thanks! I'm considering doing a simple single line inlay around the outside edge of a round wood mirror frame, but I imagine that will be difficult to get uniformly flush. Any tips?

Corinneea 2 years ago

Can aluminum wire be used for this? If so, would you still torch to heat?

philip.ershler 5 years ago

How about a CNC router with the appropriate size mill?

Ninjosh 5 years ago

A cnc in theory should work just fine provided you can get a bit the right size for your wire or vice versa.

JustSomeHuman 5 years ago

Thanks, but regardless of the details, your work is spectacular and very moving.

Andrew151 5 years ago

Hi - I'd love a few details ont he model and source for your rolling mill, as well as the size/power/source of your laser cutter. I'm just lokoing into doing this and would 100% require a laser for the project, but don't know where to start.

raul47 5 years ago

could you show what different types of gauge wire look like as an inlay? What is your opinion on copper powered mixed with epoxy to use as an inlay?

Ninjosh 5 years ago

Sorry this answer took so long but here it goes!
I actually haven't made an inlay with wire outside the 14 to 18 gauge range and I don't have plans to make another one any time soon. Perhaps some time in the future?

As for the epoxy... I prefer working with metal inlays as epoxy has been temperamental with me (bubbles, uneven mix, peeling away from the wood, particles getting trapped in it). Plus I know how to get a great shine out of metal and I have no idea how to get a mirror finish out of epoxy.

Ralphxyz 7 years ago

WOW, absolutely WOW. I have always wanted to do this.

Now I do not have any excuses, well I do not have a laser or cnc router (yet).

This is really beautiful, thank you!!

re:After I get the wire red hot, I dunk it in some water and voila! Soft, easy to work with metal.

Actually you are case hardening the wire when you dunk it. Just let it air cool to be truly tempered. Case hardening just hardens the outside layer of the wire the

inside stays soft, possible you are using the hardening effect.

Anyway I love it, thanks again.

gbowles 5 years ago

Ralph, I believe you're incorrect there about case hardening. I have found that both copper and brass may be cooled in water and remain supple.

ddoug42 7 years ago

Copper based metals anneal by quenching, unlike iron based that harden when quenched.

russellh31 6 years ago

No, they anneal by heating to red hot. But they DON'T harden by quenching, unlike carbon steel. So, quenching is quicker, and also tends to clean scale off. But not necessary.

Ninjosh 7 years ago

I had no idea that was why. Thanks!

Ninjosh 7 years ago

Funny story about that step:

I was originally trying to case harden my wire for a different project (I can't remember what it was). So I got it red hot and dunked it in water only to find that it became very plastic; not hard in the slightest. Since then, I've adopted this method of annealing copper and brass wire after work hardening it.

nikkikitty245 6 years ago

Hi there, excellent work! Quick question: Using 14 gauge wire, how thick are your engraving paths? Did you start with 2mm void width or a 3pt line in Adobe Illustrator? I started making a vector file to try this method and am looking for the void thickness for the drawing so I can laser cut to fit the wire.

Ninjosh 6 years ago

It sounds like you want to adjust your voids to your wire and not the other way around.

In my inlays, I instead adjust my wire to the voids I cut. For example, if I know I have 14 gauge wire I will make my void thinner than 14 gauge.

With that said, I actually have no idea how thick your voids should be. I only know that they should be smaller than 14 gauge. I recommend that you adjust your wire to the void like I do but I know that may be difficult without the right equipment. Beyond that, I recomend you experiment with cheap wood. That's what I do.

Hope that helps.

bbrown44221 6 years ago

Suppose you tape up the wood prior to laser vector cutting. Would you be able to essentially solder your wire into place?

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