Official Luthiers Forum!

first of all i have some recon stone i would like to use for fretboard inlay. it is in 1/4 " sheets and i am guessing i can use a belt sander or palm sander to bring it down to thickness. what thickness should i get it down to for fret board inlay? judging from the hardness it will be difficult. my main question is once it is on the fretboard, how do i bring it down flush with the fretboard level?

1/16 .063 is typical inlay thickness. This gives room to sand the FB radius without issues. depending on the type of stone a good aluminum oxide paper will sand reconstone

If your FB is still in the flat. inlay flush (.06 deep)then sand the radius into the FB. If the FB is already radiused inlay to .045 deep. this should leave enough to sand the recon stone flush to the radius of the FB

Hi Kama,
if the material is now 1/4" thick you might consider cutting it in half. Cut
pieces to useable sizes and then "resaw" them with a jeweler's saw. You'll
end up with twice as much material and far less waste. Then you can sand
them to around .050" or .060" thick and then cut them to the shape(s)
you need. As stated above, inlay them proud of the surface and then
sand, file, or scrape level. I find a single-edged razor blade used as a
scraper puts a nice final surface on hard inlay materials like shell and
stone.
Craig

Craig...are you referring to the coping saw-type Jeweler's saw or something more band-saw or circular saw-like as a method for resawing the stone? I'm totally ignorant on this but would like to know more.

I also have some of this material and would love to learn how to get it thicknessed without wasting a lot of time and material in sanding.

_________________
JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

resaw the the stone to .08 thick, thickness to .05-.063, Cut shapes, inlay .005-.010 proud, sand flust with FB. either way you look at it 2 pieces is all you will get if resawed due to kerf.

I second Michael's advice; keep in mind the thicker the material during cutting,(to pattern shape), the more likely you are to get the sides out of square.
Also, depending on the type of stone, there may be some blade deflection during cutting due to harder components in the blank.

_________________
Paul Bordeaux
http://www.bordeauxinlay.com

i only have a ryobi brand band saw. would i need a wet saw to resaw this material or is there another way? you guys are right it would be great to get twice as much material.

HP may be an issue with the Ryobi. feed slow. let the saw do the work. be sure your blade setup is good. use as wide of blade as you can to help keep deflection down. be sure your fence in paralel to the blades cut track.

ill give it a try