As mentioned in a previous post, much of a weekend did end up with me trying to figure out my Celtic design for the box and how to cut this as a string inlay. One thing I did do first was to cut my Baltic birch plywood bottom for the box. I measured (as shown in the photo) the inside grooves the bottom was to rest in on both the front/back pieces and the side pieces (pairs being equal) so I could cut this bottom a hair shy of an exact fix. There is not much wood movement with Baltic birch plywood to worry about, but I cut this a hair short from an exact fit to be more assured I would not have issues assembling the box during glue-up.

Next was finding a design I liked on the Internet, not worrying about how I would inlay it, and then sizing and positioning it on the box front panel. As you can see in the photo I found my design and aligned it using measurements and some of the lock parts I will be using on the box. Once the design and a small piece of carbon paper was securely taped into the position I liked, I then traced the pattern to transferred it onto the wood.

Cutting inlay strips out of a piece of American Holly I had so I can get a nice white contrast was my next step. I keep some of the Holly aside to be use for the tray and other features such as a handle and splines. Cutting inlay on the tablesaw is an expensive operation but I find it to be easy and fast.

I use a zero clearance insert plate and set the fence ~1/32″ from the blade. I always make sure I also use a splitter and a push board to keep my hands well away from the blade and allows me to push the board and the cut strip into and out of the saw. The push board is nothing more then a long board with a notch that the blade cuts into ever so slightly. Now I raise the blade to just a hair over the Holly board and cut my strips, making sure I use a feather board on the front side of the cut to keep the wood against the fence going into the cut. Takes some practice and setup but well worth the effort. A few good 1/32″ thick strips will yield quite a bit of inlay.

Once I have strips cut I can then cut them into my ~2/32″ inlay piece using a shooter board and knife tool, the board being nothing more then an MDF with a lipped piece of hardwood and the cutting tool is similar to a marking gage. I would like to improve on my inlay cutting tool so maybe someday I will detail building one.

I had to do quite a bit of thinking on cutting this pattern as my circle inlay jig would not produce a tight enough circle, and I believe I could not have built one that would do this easily. I tried free handing on a test piece but the results did not look very nice. After some time I decided to cut the arcs in multiple passes by moving my center point each time. I end up with not quite a smooth curve but if I end my cuts at meeting/crossing points of other lines the human eye should not pick it up as it will all blend into the full pattern. I made my first cut and inlaid a strip, happy with the results so far. Guess I will be hitting this inlaying hard over the next week or so.

Another part I worked on was sanding the veneered panel for my top, I had yet to start this process and wanted my rabbet to be cut as close to the final panel thickness as possible and once the box is glued up, sanding the inside lid face will be difficult. Once sanded the panel is pretty nice for a practice veneer piece and will need to be cut down to final size before assembly.

I have a little over half of the inlay done since starting this post and finally posting it. The multiple cut arcs are working nicely. I got side tracked this past weekend replacing the door to my shop with one that has a window. The door job is not completed yet but hopefully will post some images of it and the inlay process sometime yet this week.