Turquoise Inlay Materials for Slabs

[Danny in Houston]

I'm studying how to inlay turquoise into voids in wood slabs. For those that have done this successfully, do you use real turquoise or the synthetics? Can you share a supply source?

I've used epoxy with black powder in the past on a couple of pieces, but I've not used metals or turquoise. I've ordered some metal powders, synthetic and man-made turqouise to experiment.

Thanks!

[Rick L]

Google the question.
https://www.google.com/search?client=saf...urces&nfpr=
1It's a favorite of turners and it's been heavily covered on other forums. I've seen coverage on wood central. Amazon sells the inlace kits.


http://www.woodcentral.com/woodworking/f...go;srchid=
http://www.hotsheet.com/search_results.p...rtner-pub-

1316004166504112:dg922ostef6&cof=FORID:10&ie=ISO-8859-1&sa=Search&q=inlace%20instructions

[AHill]

The link would be my suggestion. I'd fill up most of the voids with epoxy and save the inlay for the final surface application. No sense wasting money on inlay material that won't be seen. You might also try coloring your epoxy black and using the turquoise inlay for the final leveling.

[Danny in Houston]

Rick L said:

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Google the question.
https://www.google.com/search?client=saf...urces&nfpr=
1It's a favorite of turners and it's been heavily covered on other forums. I've seen coverage on wood central. Amazon sells the inlace kits.


http://www.woodcentral.com/woodworking/f...go;srchid=
http://www.hotsheet.com/search_results.p...rtner-pub-

1316004166504112:dg922ostef6&cof=FORID:10&ie=ISO-8859-1&sa=Search&q=inlace%20instructions

---

Thanks for the links, but I'm hoping to start a conversation with people who have experience. I've googled, watched Youtubes, and read some articles. I was hoping to hear from folks with first hand experience.

[Wipedout]

Danny in Houston said:

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Thanks for the links, but I'm hoping to start a conversation with people who have experience. I've googled, watched Youtubes, and read some articles. I was hoping to hear from folks with first hand experience.

---

Yeah. I've never understood when people suggest googling. Of course we have done that but we come here for one on one conversation on the topic.

Most of the turquoise ive filled with including on the mesquite bench I did recently was Inlace brand. You have to decide the look. Do you want powder or chunks. I've used both. People seem to prefer powder. I've used the turquoise Inlace and I've used clear Inlace with powder I bought in NM. I'll look for the source. I prefer Inlace over epoxy for things like turquoise

As for black I've gotten away from mixing on all but smallest items. Just use black spray paint and clear epoxy like on my recent dining room table

[Bibliophile 13]

You've gotten good advice here. Turquoise works pretty much the same for inlay as any crushed rock or fine metal filings. Other popular materials are malachite (green), coral (pink, red, white), copper, and aluminum. Regardless of what you're using, you can fill in much of the gap underneath the turquoise with something solid like epoxy or a sawdust/glue paste if you want to save materials.

Fill the void with powdered stone and heap it up a little above the surface of the surrounding wood. Saturate the surface with the thinnest CA glue (superglue) you can find. (If the void is deep, you can do this in a couple layers.) Once the glue is dry, sand the inlay level with the wood.

It's really not hard at all. Once a turner showed me how to do it, I was amazed at how easy it was.

[Danny in Houston]

OK thanks all - I've purchased some materials and will be practicing on some scrap this weekend.

[Ruler2112]

One thing that I learned the hard way is that the inlace has almost no strength whatsoever. Having crushed stone & inlaid it with epoxy in the past, I expected the inlace to be similar, but ruined a gorgeous piece of walnut on the lathe by using inlace instead to fill the bark inclusion - blew apart when I tried turning it. And the stink was horrendous... much worse than any epoxy I've ever used.

The inlace I have will probably never be used again... wish they would have packed the filler separate from the liquid instead of mixing the two... I could use it with epoxy. I'll stick with epoxy & real crushed stone, even though it's murder on your tools trying to turn it.

[iclark]

If you have any lapidary/rock/gem clubs or shows in your area, you might check with them. Friends around here have found sandwich-sized baggies of turquoise (chips and dust) for $5/bag.

The local turners seem to use CA and turquoise to fill small voids and epoxy and turquoise for larger voids.

[Wipedout]

Interesting I've turned Inlace a hundred times with no issue at all. Plus I've filled cracks and voids on a mesquite bench with it. And a mantle etc