Woodworking How to – Make Diamond Wood Inlay Banding
(The 90 Degree Pattern)
This woodworking how to project features band saw methods and workshop techniques to make beautiful diamond wood inlay banding. The making of wood inlay bandings is a lost art. It is the goal of The Apprentice and The Journeyman to raise awareness to fellow woodworkers and artisans of these methods and techniques used to make fantastic designs of wood inlay banding.
Download this Diamond Wood Inlay Banding Pattern at the SketchUp Warehouse.
The Three Components of the Wood Design
The 90 degree diamond wood inlay banding is the focus of this article and YouTube woodworking video. The inlay pattern for this banding consists of three components; a square, a 45 – 45 – 90 triangle, and the outer veneers. The square component is of mahogany. The triangle includes a top and bottom strip of maple with a strip of walnut at the center. The contrasting outer veneers are of maple and walnut as well.
The Band Saw – The Power Tool of Choice
The Band Saw is the stationary power tool of choice for this woodworking how to project. As you can see in the video clips, The Apprentice and The Journeyman has developed band saw cross cut sleds specifically for cutting the angles of the segments. Stop blocks are clamped to the fence of these sleds to provide for accurate and uniform segment lengths. This is method is conducive to making a quality and uniform wood design throughout our diamond wood inlay banding.
The Apprentice and The Journeyman has also developed a quality method for cutting thin strips on the band saw by incorporating an adjustable Rockler thin rip jig with a roller bearing.
Woodworking how to Determine Segment Sizing
To begin, our material for our woodworking how to project is first dimensioned. The square component is nestled within the triangle components at a 45 degree angle. We use a dial caliper to measure the square across its longest points. We then divide that measurement in half to determine the height of our triangles. Simply put, the triangles are 1/2 the height of the square from its two longest points.
The Grain Direction of the Diamond Wood Inlay Pattern
You will notice in the woodworking how to video that our finished diamond wood inlay banding “log” is about 2 ” wide. (14 thin strips of 3/32″ x 3/4″ x 24″wood inlay bandings were able to be harvested from the banding “log.”) The diamond wood inlay banding design is without end grain. Initial planning and some thought prior to cutting material is important to achieve a design that consists only of long grain and is void of any end grain.
Woodworking How to Make Diamond Wood Inlay Banding of 60 Degrees
Read the following woodworking how to article to understand how to make a wood inlay diamond pattern of 60 degrees.
