Precious Metal Inlays

[Randy_]

There have been a couple of threads about using gold and silver wire for inlays on pens and one thread had a link to some very pretty pens done by a surgeon in Colorado. A question was asked but never answered about how the wire was "attached" to the pen....anybody know. Is the wire glued into channels cut in the wood or is some other method(s) used. Thanks.

 

[btboone]

I would assume that's it Randy. For doing it in wood, it would take a close fitting channel to wedge the material in. It is probably roughed up beforehand and glued in with CA. The fact that it wraps completely around a pen would help it stay in place.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Don't know if this will help for pens but sometimes shared knowledge can be used in various avocations. Gunstockers who inlay gold or silver wire often simply use a flat chisle to make their groove. The wire is then pounded into the groove without glue then as the wood is sanded down you get a nice fit. Gold and silver are quite malleable so the pounding probably forces it to a tight fit. I have seen very old guns where the wood shrank and the wire began to come out. So, the use of modern glues is not out of the question with individual craftsmen. Whether this is a practical approach with a tiny object like a pen needs to be tested.

 

[Johnathan]

I think that if your going to put that much time and money into a pen (silver/gold) you would want to use a CA finish. The fit will already be tight and the finish would keep it from going anywhere. I'm wondering if with silver wire you need to use the soft or the hard? I'm thinking soft for pens, you go hamering too hard and your going to crack or bend something. Anyone else have comments please send them my way! Thanks

[][8D]

 

[btboone]

Yup fully annealed silver is the way to go. Gold will be hard enough to really be difficult.

 

[woodbutcher]

I've used ca to glue metal to wood.
Jim

 

[Randy_]

Originally posted by Rifleman
<br />Don't know if this will help for pens but sometimes shared knowledge can be used in various avocations. Gunstockers who inlay gold or silver wire often simply use a flat chisle to make their groove.....

Thanks, Frank. I never knew how the stocks were done. I do know that when inlay work is done on the metal, they cut the borders with a little bit of an angle and when the inlay is applied, it has a little dovetail(?) to hold it in place.

 

[Randy_]

Bruce: have you ever considered doing any gold inlay on your titanium pens?? Silver probably wouldn't work. [][]

 

[btboone]

Hi Randy, yes, I can easily do it with gold, platinum, or silver. I do titanium rings with either, and the technique would be the same. I did a couple with mokume inlays, which is gold and silver combined into patterns without them melting completely together as a new alloy. My trick is to sell the pens. The gold obviously gets expensive, so I want to be reasonably assured that the pen would sell before I do a lot of them that way. Silver would be a lot easier to do and isn't such a risk because it's so cheap.

Here's a pic of the mokume inlays.

<br />

 

[Rifleman1776]

Originally posted by Randy_
<br />

Originally posted by Rifleman
<br />Don't know if this will help for pens but sometimes shared knowledge can be used in various avocations. Gunstockers who inlay gold or silver wire often simply use a flat chisle to make their groove.....

Thanks, Frank. I never knew how the stocks were done. I do know that when inlay work is done on the metal, they cut the borders with a little bit of an angle and when the inlay is applied, it has a little dovetail(?) to hold it in place.

Yeppers, that's inlays. Undercut a little bit then the inlay is kinda forced in and holds by itself. (if it's done right [:I] ) Cutting good inlays is a genuine skill, I can do them sorta OK but far short of the top craftsmen who make it look like the inlay grew with the wood.

 

[terrymiller]

would it be possible to have the design laser engraved then melt the metal into the channel that was left. Kind of like soldering.

 

[btboone]

Terry, nope, unless it's an extremely powerful laser, it won't get silver to flow like that. It takes around 800 watts or so to do that. The engraving lasers are usually only somewhere around 25 to 50 watts. Silver and gold both reflect infrared well too, so even a powerful laser would have a tough time of it. The heat affected zone is also so small that it would pit the surface rather than melt the whole inlay.

 

[sptfr43]

if I am reading your question right you are asking if the silver can be poured in after the channel has been laser cut. I have tried pouring like that and it only burns the wood.

 

[terrymiller]

Thanks for the quick post Bruce, Randy is close to what I was referring to I was thinking maybe you could use a soldering iron to melt the metal int the channel cut by the laser engraving. But I guess that the hot metal wood burn the wood. I was thinking this because I have a 100 watt soldering iron used for stained glass work but the Silver and Gold I'm sure have a higher melting point than solder. I guess this could be done with solder for effect just would not be the value.

 

[btboone]

For silver, just cut a groove with a rotary tool like a Dremel tool with a small inverted cone burr or use a laser, but be sure the depth is about as deep as it is wide. Get it just about the same width as the square metal wire and make sure the sides are fairly rough. Add CA and press the metal in the slot. The metal will stick barely above the surface and can be turned or sanded down.

 

[KenV]

Pewter (tin alloy) can be poured into recesses in wood. I have a black powederr style shotgum with a pewter nosepiece cast onto the forearm of the stock. The forming was not too tough as pewter melts at a low heat.

Have also seen it done as decoration on tool handles and the like.

Tin will not polish up as high a luster as silver or gold, but looks pretty good.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Originally posted by sptfr43
<br />if I am reading your question right you are asking if the silver can be poured in after the channel has been laser cut. I have tried pouring like that and it only burns the wood.

My thought also, wood burns around 450 degrees and melted silver would be in the 600 neighborhood. But, the design could be cut with laser and the soft silver or gold wire tamped into the groove with glue to hold. The laser idea opens up all kinds of possibilities.