Wow, looks like the link to the pic is bad. Oh well!

Weldon Lister
10/18/2006 3:13:38 PM

This is how I do steel inlay. It is very similar to gold inlay with some important differences. Hopefully this will pique your interest in trying this yourself.
In this photo, the area for the quail inlay has been relieved. The bottom of the relief is flat.

Weldon Lister
11/2/2006 7:50:09 PM

In this next photo you can see the relief cutout in the shotgun (now undercut as you would for gold), and the steel with an in transfer of the quail shape. I stuck the tape from the transfer onto a white paper to make it easier to see.

Weldon Lister
11/2/2006 7:54:30 PM

The quail has now been cut out of the steel. I use 1018 non-hardening steel for the inlay material and cut & grind it to the approximate thickness desired. 1018 is pretty soft for steel, is easy to work and it will blue or plate nicely. This shows the backside of the inlay where I'm using a flexshaft with a round burr. I'm carefully relieving the material from the underside of the quail. I'll keep going with this until the bottom side is cupped, leaving a thin edge the original material thickness all around the perimeter of the inlay. This step is crucial to successfully inlay steel in this manner.

Weldon Lister
11/2/2006 8:01:23 PM

Oops, forgat to attach the pic!

Weldon Lister
11/2/2006 8:03:07 PM

Here the quail has been hammered in place. With the piece to be inlayed haveing a sort of domed shape one whack is usually enough to set it into the undercut in the gun. To set the inlay I use either a 1/2 inch steel rod or a short hammer head I had made that is about 1" in diameter to set the steel inlay into the cavity. The location of the inlay in relation to the structure of the gun is the determining factor on the choice of setting tool. Bear in mind that some guns have some pretty thin spots...be extremely carefull when whacking around like this! Anyway, once the seel is set in place you can check your success by using a scribe or other pointed object to try to gently pry the piece out of the cavity. If you did it right you will have to chisel the piece out of the cavity in order to remove it.

Weldon Lister
11/2/2006 8:13:47 PM

Here I'm starting to rough shape the quail with flat chisels. At this point I'm going for a general shape, not an exact likeness

Weldon Lister
11/2/2006 8:15:30 PM

In this shot some detail has been added to the tail. I'll keep shaping & adding detail until it all (hopefully!)looks like a quail.

Weldon Lister
11/2/2006 8:17:50 PM

Nice pictures and instructions Weldon.
About what thickness are you getting the steel at before inlaying? I know with raised gold inlays I usually like using sheet that is .040. Also when Frank Hendricks was demonstrating his steel inlay techniques,he soldered a super thin sheet of copper to the back of his steel. Inside the inlay recess he toothed it and let the copper grab the teeth to hold it in place. It was important however to make certain the steel was hammered all around the copper to seal it off for rebluing.
You did a very nice job. Thanks
Marty

Martin Rabeno
11/3/2006 10:05:46 AM

Hi Weldon.

Great photos and tutorial. Thank you very much for taking the time to do that.

Best wishes
Andrew

Andrew Biggs
11/3/2006 2:34:56 PM

This is really interesting. If I understand it right it seems that by creaing a cupped shape it becomes like a freeze plug in an engine block. When one drives it in by smashing down the middle it causes a slight expansion pushing the sides out tight.

Lee Griffiths
11/3/2006 9:23:53 PM

Weldon,
That's really cool. Lee asked the question I was going to ask but couldn't figure out how to explain it. Thanks for posting this! I'm sure there will be more questions about this.

Rex Pedersen
11/3/2006 10:03:36 PM

Marty, Andrew, Lee & Rex,
Thanks fro the kind words. I chose to do the inlays without addind a copper back layer in order to eliminate the concern of having bleedout problems whe (&if) I wanted to have the piece blued. I did an antique nickel finish instead so that was not an issue on this particular gun. The steel is probably (I'm at home, not in the shop) around .070 or so. This gives plenty of room to shape & model.
Lee you hit the proverbial nail on the head with your illustration of the freeze plug - great example! Thanks

Weldon Lister
11/4/2006 9:35:16 AM

It's rare but ocassionally the farm boy get's it right. I am looking for the opportunity to try it. Alright guys now we know how to do the really cool steel inlay on a cast iron piece. You still have time to have it ready for Reno.

Lee Griffiths
11/4/2006 9:53:50 PM

Here is a pic of the completed project.

Weldon Lister
11/9/2006 8:17:07 PM

Looks real nice Weldon...do you have a picture of the bottom of the action?

Martin Rabeno
11/9/2006 11:14:32 PM

Weldon
You are amazing! Thank-You so much for sharing.

David

K. David Gruber
11/9/2006 11:34:28 PM

Thanks Marty,

Here's the bottom, Ill put a picture of the other side too.

Weldon

Weldon Lister
11/10/2006 8:02:26 PM

Here is the left side

Weldon Lister
11/10/2006 8:03:38 PM

Thanks for the tutorial. The pictures help a lot in viewing how you accompish the overlay.

Glenn Anthony
12/7/2006 1:01:22 PM

Sorry, it looks like an overlay, but is an inlay.

Glenn Anthony
12/7/2006 1:06:21 PM

Hi Glen,

While it does look like an overlay, I guess the correct terminology should be a "raised inlay" to differentiate between that and a flush inlay (which can also be done using steel as in filling in screw holes, etc...). I should have used the more correct term when describing this technique!(my fault). To my understanding & to help clarify for others who may be interested (which might be just the two of us, you never know!!!)an overlay is a term used when applying or adding metal on by soldering as in jewelry or buckle making.
Thanks for your interest,

Weldon

Weldon Lister
12/7/2006 10:15:46 PM

Weldon
You and Glenn are deffinatly not the only two people interested in your tutorial. I an absolutly facinated by your work. I hope to see much more of it.

K. David Gruber
12/8/2006 11:07:48 PM