Super Solder Inlay for your Woodworking Projects

Learn how to make Solder Metal Inlay for your Woodworking Projects

In just a few easy steps you can create an great looking metal inlay using solder that can be purchased from any hardware store.

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Step 1: Carve the pattern you want

Carve the pattern for your solder inlay.

I used the X Carve CNC from Inventables to carve out a design to about 3 mm deep. I carved out Superman's Logo. You can use any sort of carving or boring tool like a Dremel, Drill Press, Router Table, Table Saw, Chisel, Scroll Saw etc.

Even lots of dots from a drill press would look nice on the lid of a jewelry box.

Step 2: Melt the Solder for the Inlay

Melt the solder with a blowtorch.

I used solid solder that is used in plumbing and using a blowtorch melted it over the carving, I found clumping it together worked better as each drip would merge with the one next to it, keep going until you fill the mold with solder.

Step 3: Sand the solder inlay flush

Sand the solder inlay flush to the wood.

Using a belt sander to sand down the excess solder it did a pretty good job of quickly removing material, you can finish it off with a random orbit sander and some hand sanding to give it a bit of a polished look.

I did not fill a few spots enough and used a soldering iron and some more solder to fill the gaps.

WARNING: Some Solders contain lead so as with any potential hazardous material like fiber glass, MDF etc you should wear a mask and use dust extraction.

Step 4: Give it that burnt look

Burn that wood. I used a blowtorch to burn the wood around the Superman logo which looked pretty cool and gave it a nice contrast, you could also stain the wood if needed.

I then used Minwax wipe on poly to finish it off.