[4V50 Gary]

Thanks for your help Bill.

Relief carving was week 1. I did not have my small scrapers with me (can't find them). More time was spent on the area behind the cheekpiece than on the wrist (that was just done in one day). The only reason stain was applied was to bring out the wire otherwise the stock (if it was a serious piece of work) would have been scraped, filed, chiseled away a lot more.

Week 2 was wire inlays. We started by cutting out stars which we traced onto .020-.025 sheet brass and cut out with a jewelers' saw. This was then inlaid into the stock. I opted not to go with a fresh piece of wood but used the existing quaker stock instead. The area where the star was inlaid at begins convex, becomes concave and then convex again. This is a bit more challenging than a flat surface (my classmates did a flat surface).

After the star (or football) was inlaid, we were taught how to make brass wire out of .010 sheet brass. We started with a file first on both sides to impart a slight taper and to create grooves. Using scissors, we then cut out our long strip of brass. This was annealed.

Our inlay tools were made from hacksaw blades and after drawing our design, we used these tools to punch down into the metal for the length of the design. The wire was then pushed in by hand. Where we had crossovers, the wire was snipped at an angle.

Note: the dip in the comb near the heel is because that's the way the quaker stock was cut. It should be straight and I was not going to spend any time in correcting it.