Sept 2016 Demo
“A New Easy and Inexpensive Inlay Technique”
David Mueller
Inlay is a really general term that can mean a lot of different things to turners. As a simple technique, many turners have added a wood or colored epoxy decorative ring around the rim of a platter or the top of a box. At the more complex end of the spectrum, Stephen Hatcher has created beautiful images of trees in his signature platters. Somewhere in the middle is filling worm holes and cracks with minerals, Inlace or coffee grounds. Each of these techniques uses different application methods and materials, many of which are pretty expensive. Some of these materials, such as minerals, are very hard and cannot be turned.
In this demonstration, Dave will show how to prepare and use one material that is inexpensive and easy to apply for all these (and more) applications. It comes in over a hundred colors and can be turned just like wood with any common tools we already have in our shop. He has successfully used it for filling cracks and wormholes, making decorative accents and enhancements, casting pen blanks, making rings and pendants and producing images in turnings.
Dave started turning in 2008 and is a member of AAW, the BVTurners in College Station and the Gulf Coast Woodturners Association in Houston. In his spare time Dave produces websites for fellow turners and recently co-developed the AAW Video Site for woodturning videos (www.aawvideosource.org). He was a CEO of a small medical company and retired in 2011.