Inlay of the twelve fret, Hand of Metal

This is the inlay of the twelve fret, Hand of Metal.

First of all, I glue the design in the piece of mother of pearl, then drill some hole with a Dremel tool, to make my life easier when cutting the inlay.

To cut the inlay I use a jewelery saw, a table with a central hole, to pass the saw blade, and a air pump to blow away all the dust. With this setting, all you have to do is cut close as possible to the line. The work is finished with little rasps.

Now is time to do the recess in the fingerboard. One way to do it is to spray some white paint, or bursh some tempera paint, and then put the inlay in its place, if you do it fast enough, the paint isn't dry yet and the inlay will be glued in it's place. Now, draw the contour with a sharp tool and you are ready to go.

Take your Dremel and, carefully, recess inside the contour, check the cavity, and fix it if necessary. When the inlay falls inside the recess is time to glue, don't forget to sand all the paint. Prepare a mix of epoxy and wood dust to fill all the cavity, put the inlay, the epoxy mix, let it settle for 24 hours, sand flush, and you are Rocking!!!

Hand of METAL: