trlewi Posted July 25, 2016 Report Share Posted July 25, 2016 Hi so I am building a table, and my idea was to use walnut. My local lumber yard doesn't have large slabs of walnut that I could work with, so my idea was to use a plywood top. Now I had an idea to do a metal inlay into the table and this is something I am not sure I could do with plywood. Is it possible to hand plane plywood to accommodate the metal sheet inlay. So there wood be a trim border to hid the inlay and then the metal inlay would either be in the centre or off-centered. In the image I attached it would be centered. I would also be trying to procure the thinnest possible bronze or copper sheet metal that I could realistically use for this project. Your help is greatly appreciated. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jplemons Posted July 25, 2016 Report Share Posted July 25, 2016 Can't you just make a panel large enough for the top by gluing up less-wide boards? I suppose you could try routing a groove in the plywood and then cleaning it up with a chisel. I'd be worried about tearout, though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted July 25, 2016 Report Share Posted July 25, 2016 Inlaying metal into plywood will be challenging since you have very little latitude when it comes to leveling the surface....meaning, you can't really sand much on plywood because you burn through the veneers immediately. I'm sure it's been done successfully by someone somewhere, but it's not a task I would care to take on. Otherwise the design is fine structurally, except you'll need to figure out a way to keep those legs from racking. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tpt life Posted July 25, 2016 Report Share Posted July 25, 2016 A picture since I am not sure everyone always understands what you said Eric... The plies in this box store sheet are just over 1/8". That makes the veneer ply something less than 1/32" thick. The veneer ply is the bright white line at the top of this sheet I took the photo from below the top and there is no chamfer or round over. That is the edge of the veneer. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trlewi Posted July 25, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2016 This is what I have for the bottom, I might be adding two supports the width (evenly spaced) of the table instead of the one down the middle i have now. I am not too worried about the area under the metal inlay to get ruined as the metal would be going over it. I could just install it over the plywood but then it would be a raised surface and I want it to be flush. However I am concerned it won't evenly level, which seems to be what the case would be. I guess I could just cut the planks, attach the "inlay" to a cheaper material and connect the three sections that way. How would that hold up structurally? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted July 26, 2016 Report Share Posted July 26, 2016 An option for doing inlay in the plywood top would be to add your own thick veneer to the plywood (both sides). Then you would have whatever species you like as the show surface, and plenty of thickess for levelling the surface to the inlay. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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