Compass
Inlay
Shop cut veneer
and hot sand are all you need
to add a nautical decoration to any project.
by Glen D. Huey
We all occasionally need a little direction – it’s easy
to get off course. As man first began to sail across
oceans, maps were drawn to help give direction and
guide ships. The “compass rose” came to life, but
for most woodworkers, the compass rose is purely
decorative. I’ve been aware of it for many years, first
seeing the inlay associated with boxes and trunks in
areas of New England that have strong nautical ties.
But it was a Pennsylvania desk-on-frame – the inlay
was centered on the desk’s lid – that prompted me
to research the design.
The compass rose, on a map, indicates direction,
although the points represent winds. The four major
winds – today, as it was in the pre-1500s – are North,
South, East and West. The first letter of each direction is transcribed just beyond its point. These are
the cardinal directions. Around the time of Christopher Columbus, Portuguese mapmakers used a
fleur-de-lys to signify the north wind and a cross for
the east, which indicated the Holy Land.
A set of four half-winds, the ordinal directions,
was added along the way. Those points are shorter
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in length on many maps, as they are in my inlay. To
provide more precise bearings, 16 more points were
added to the design. This is where the term “rose”
was introduced because on a map, all 32 points have
the appearance of a rose with all its petals intact.
A four-point compass is only the major winds – I
seldom see this design used on furniture. The inclusion of the four ordinal winds makes the design an
eight-point compass, which is the topic of this presentation. All 32 points is technically a compass rose.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization
uses a four-point compass for its
While you may think that the decline in printmaking and sailing has lessened the notoriety of these
symbols, many are still in use today as the symbol of
well-known organizations, such as the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Seattle Mariners major league baseball team. (Would you expect
anything different from Mariners?)
After you've four-squared your stock – make a fresh
cut, use a blade tooth to set the thickness of cut, then
mark the edge to help set the stock for a second pass.
Shop-cut Veneer
For me, working with commercial veneers is a real
pain. With veneer thicknesses at 1/64” and shrinking, it’s way too easy to scrape or sand through the
veneer as you work. Because of this, I’ve elected to
cut my own veneer, especially when the need for
small amounts arise. This eight-pointed compass
inlay meets that standard.
I chose maple for the compass because I have
scads of scraps lying about my shop. Due to the
overall width of each inlay piece, a scrap of 8/4
material worked out great – each strip was split into
4-1/2"-long pieces, then each piece was cut in half
lengthwise to make two pieces for inlay.
To slice off my pieces, I ran one edge of the stock
over the jointer, then made a rip cut at my table
saw to bring the two edges parallel. Using the tooth
of the saw blade, I adjusted the fence to provide a
near 1/16" offcut, which would be my working stock.
Before ripping the first piece from the blank, I used a
sharp pencil to mark the board’s edge.
After each slice, the blank is moved to the line to
reset for another slice. (Some woodworkers clamp
a stop in place and bump the blank against the stop
with each slice. Using this technique, I find variations in thickness are common due to the unequal
amounts of pressure set against the stop.) In all, I
needed two strips for the compass inlay, or about a
dozen 4-1/2"-long pieces. I’d begin with 24 individual
pieces. Yes, there are extras included.
It’s rather simple to hit the layout line as you adjust
the fence for the second cut. With each pass a usable
thickness of veneer is made in the shop.
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Visual Depth
I’ve always admired how scorching thin pieces of
wood – know as shading – significantly adds to the
overall look of inlay. This inlay is no different. Each
“petal” is made up of two pieces that have one edge
each toasted in hot sand. When the married sections group together with the other seven similarly
shaded pieces, the design appears to bend inward or
outward, depending on your perspective.
What you need to shade your veneer is sand, a
vessel to hold and heat the sand and a good heat
source. Each of these components influences the
operation in some manner. How much, though, I
don’t know.
stove. (Thank you Rob Millard.) Today, a camp stove
is my heat source. A side benefit is that a camp stove
elevates the pan and sand off your bench to hold it
at a good working position, and the sand heats in
no time do to the direct flame of the gas burner. It’s
easy to regulate the heat, too.
Work Begins in Earnest
When the sand is hot, position a piece of veneer
so that it’s sticking into the sand while standing on
edge. Leave the piece in the sand until the edge begins to shade. Notice I wrote shade, not char. Wood
that is charred is like charcoal or ash and that needs
to be removed.
If your sand is at its full temperature, you can
gauge the time that each piece needs to be toasted.
If you’re like me, shading is a moving target, because
my patience wears thin and I begin the process too
quickly. Pieces that are near a 1/16" thick should
shade in about 20 - 45 seconds. Again, it depends on
the heat and on the thickness of your veneer pieces.
Check the veneer often until you get a handle on the
time needed to darken the edge.
Shade all the pieces, trying to keep the edges
lightly colored – I have a tendency to allow my sand
How deep in the sand you position your veneer pieces
influences the overall shading – some woodworkers
feel that finer sands shade in a different way.
There are woodworkers who feel that the type
and grain of sand can change the shading on the
workpiece. If that means traveling to the far reaches
of the world to gather sands off foreign beaches,
count me in. Somehow, I don’t think that’s the case.
In fact, burning is burning in my book. The sand I
use is simply play sand purchased from a hardware
store. It does the job, so I stick with it.
I will take a stand on the vessel needed to heat
your sand. While you can get by using almost any
pan, a cast iron pan is best. Not because it effects
the sand in any way, but for the same reasons seasoned cooks prefer cast iron for frying chicken – it’s
an ideal heat conductor, and it heats evenly and
holds a consistent temperature. Plus, it’s inexpensive
and lasts forever.
For years I used a portable electric burner to heat
my sand, but that’s before I was turned on to a camp
Sand, a good, reliable cast-iron pan and a strong
heat source helps transform plain veneer into
works of art.
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Stay close as you shade your veneer. It’s easy to overtoast the thin wood pieces. Those pieces (as seen in
the right-hand pair) are tossed out.
Shop-made veneer can be worked using the same
hand tools as regular-thickness lumber. The working
methods are similar.
With the edges trimmed and straightened, join the
two pieces using blue tape – veneer tape is OK too, if
you have it available.
Too much stretching of the tape as it's applied can
cause the pieces to flip up as if it were butterfly
wings. A single piece along the length adds support.
shading to get too dark, yet usable without a lot of
planing. In the photo at top left, it’s rather obvious
as to which set of inlay pieces are charred beyond
use or not quit shaded enough, and which set is OK.
The too-heavily shaded piece would be trashed, the
lightly shaded piece is OK to use and the other two
pieces are what I look for in shading.
After you’ve decided what’s good and what needs
to be thrown out, make sure you have enough
pieces. Pair the pieces to a pleasing match. If you
need to trim the shading or straighten an edge, use a
plane with a light stroke.
Position the two halves together and check the
fit. Matching the edges of inlay is similar to that of
gluing boards into panels. When you’ve got a tight fit
and the shading is where you want it, tape the two
pieces as one. I prefer using blue tape. I don’t see
the need to use veneer tape, unless you have it lying
about.
With blue tape you can stretch it a bit to help drag
the two pieces tighter. But if you stretch too much,
your inlay pieces begin to spring up like a butterfly.
Begin by placing tape across the two inlay pieces
– this is where you can pull too tight. Before setting the pair aside, place a section of tape along the
length of the inlay.
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A Pattern Helps
Because there are a number of these pairs and each
needs to be marked and cut to layout lines. I find it
best to make a pattern even though there are actually two different designs being used – the shorter
design is simply a pair that’s been adjusted.
I made my pattern from thin, hard plastic – an old
cassette tape box – knowing that it would be used
many times. To make the lines easy to mark and cut,
I placed a layer of blue tape over an area on my plastic sheet and drew the design. That makes it easy
to cut the design using a band saw. It’s also easy to
shape the pattern to final size using sanders or files
to exactly hit your layout lines.
Due to the number of individual pieces needed to
make the compass-point inlay, a durable pattern is
a smart idea.
With your pattern complete and shaped, lay one
of your pairs out and transfer the design from your
pattern onto the pair. Easy peasy. The trick is to use
a sharp pencil or marking knife to trace the pattern.
Do one at a time, or do them all. It’s your call.
Using a band saw to cut the points is quick, but
there's more clean-up involved with the process, so
the overal amount of time is longer.
If you use your band saw to trim the pieces, plan to
use your plane to straighten the cuts and bring the
pieces to the exact layout lines.
Decisions to Make
As I began trimming away the waste to produce my
completed compass points, I began at my band saw.
This technique works, but it causes a bit more work
due to the fact that you need to better trim to the
layout lines – unless you’re astute at band saw work.
Cleaning up to the lines is easily done because you
can treat these pieces as regular boards – a sharp
handplane makes quick work of any additional trimming. Plus you need to take a quick look now and
again to make sure you’re not moving past the lines.
A second method that I used and found to work
OK, is a sharp knife. It’s easy to do, but there is a
chance that you’ll undercut the pieces leaving a
bevel at the edges. You’ll need, of course, a firm
If you use a knife to trim the points, the potential of
the knife's point to follow the grain and stray from
the layout line is strong at times.
straightedge against which you run your knife. And
it’s a bit of a challenge to hold the straightedge
secure without it moving slightly as you cut. Also
you need to pay attention to your backer material. A
knifepoint tends to follow grain lines if allowed to.
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Far and away, the best technique I used during
this process was to clamp a straightedge scrap (plywood in my case) exactly at my line, then use a saw
to trim away the waste. This is akin to using a veneer
saw, but there’s no need to run out and purchase a
new saw if you don’t already own the saw. My Dozuki worked just fine.
21/2"
37/8"
13/8"
19/64"
15/8"
I found that using my Dozuki was the best method
to trim the points for my compass inlay. The
clamped straightedge acts as a guide for the saw.
Each method works. Give them all a try, or use
the one that you think would be best suited for you
given your set of tools and abilities. Trim the waste
from each of your pairs.
3"
13/8"
19/64"
new lines before working
the next pair. Also, make
sure you join a shorter
point to a longer point
then continue that pattern until you’ve made up
the entire inlay.
Move to the next point
and join it to the two just
completed. Each step is
the same. Before long,
you’re fitting the last
piece to the puzzle. You
should be able to slip the
last pair into place and be
done, but that’s only if the
angles are dead on. My
guess is that they won’t
be perfect, so you’ll need
to trim a bit more of the
angle – increase the angle
or decrease it, depending on your opening. It’s
a “work in small steps”
process. Or, if you have
plenty of extras, go big or
go home. I worked small.
What’s In, What’s Out?
Before moving forward, select the best eight inlay
pairs in your collection. These become the compass
points you’ll use in your inlay. Separate the eight
pieces into two groups of four. Make this decision based on the amount of shading, how tight
the pieces fit together or some other qualifier that
stands out in your mind.
Place the group of four better pieces (your cardinal points) aside. Take the second best four pieces,
which will be your ordinal points, and make the
necessary layout changes to the design to bring the
lengths down to 3" – in other words, take 7/8" off
the long-tail ends of the four without changing the
width at the 1-3/8" mark. This requires two additional cuts.
Assembly of the points is simple. If you’ve hit the
lines of your layout just right, the shorter-length
edges align nicely. If you’ve missed the lines some
way, don’t despair. Align the two points with the
shorter-length edges touching, then mark the
shorter of the two edges onto the longer. Trim to the
It’s important to alternate the two different lengths
of points as you assemble the inlay.
With the points trimmed and sized (four long and
four short), the inlay begins to take shape.
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Inlay Insertion
When you’ve wrapped up the assembly stage, you’re
looking at the face of your eight-point compass.
Before you can inlay the piece into your project, you
need to reverse your tape.
After assembling the inlay, you need to flip the design and cover the face with tape. The haphazard
tape job on the back is removed.
As you install your inlay, you'll want to make sure
you orient it in the same direction each time. Mark
the top, bottom, left and right points.
With the perimeter sketched, carefully incise the
lines with your knife. This allows you to easily register your chisels as you trim to the layout lines.
Lay the inlay face up on your bench or some other
surface – I used my table saw table so it was easy to
peel away the tape – then cover the inlay with strips
of tape. A sharp utility knife is perfect to slice the
tape at the edge of your inlay. After all the points are
trimmed, peel the tape from the back face – hint: it’s
the side with the tape running in all directions.
The work to layout the piece that’s to receive the
inlay begins with two lines set at right angles to one
another. This is used to position the inlay. (Also, it’s
a good idea to label the inlay with directional guidance, such as T for top, B for bottom and so on. This
allows you to correctly position the inlay any number
of times.) Position the inlay at the layout lines, then
stick in a couple of pushpins to hold things secure
as you work. (Holes from the push pins show at the
end, so exercise restraint.
Using a sharp pencil, mark the outside of the inlay
onto the work-surface. With the pencil work done,
use a straightedge and knife to run over the lines to
provide a bite for your chisels.
All that’s left is to excavate the waste area. In
comes your router. The easiest technique that I’ve
found to remove the waste is to use a router with
a small bit; I suggest a 1/8" up-cut router bit – you
can do this work using a regular router, but a plunge
router is better.
Set the router’s depth of cut to match the thickness of your inlay. Slowly work around the inlay design wasting away the interior. The small-diameter
router bit allows you to easily reach into the point’s
tip. Remove the waste working back and forth or up
and down inside the design. Work up to the layout
lines, but do not hit the lines when routing – it’s not
the end of the world, but it’s also not a good thing.
The majority of the excavation work to lower the
inlay area is quickly accomplished using a router
and small-diameter router bit.
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Preparation is key to installing the inlay, especially
if you’re using hot hide glue. Have your glue heated
and clamps handy.
If you watch close, you can see the location of the
router bit as it cuts through the stock.
Finally, work around the circumference of the
inlay using your chisel to deepen the lines, and to
remove the remaining waste left at the edge. The
chisel edge fits directly into the knifed lines, which
act as a guide.
Time to get prepared to inlay your piece. Assemble any clamps you’ll need – I used three handscrews
– along with a piece of wax paper large enough to
completely cover your inlay, a scrap of wood also as
large as your inlay and your glue. I’m not big on hide
glue, but in this case I’m looking for something to
help fill any over-cut lines so hide glue works great.
You could easily hammer veneer the inlay in place,
but the process I describe can be used with any type
of glue. Also, you’ll need to elevate your project so
you can get the clamps positioned to get a nice hold,
unless you plan to clamps everything tight to your
bench top.
Spread the glue into the recess, and set the inlay
in place. Toss a piece of wax paper over the inlay
followed by the board, then add your clamps. Move
quickly so you can get everything aligned before the
glue begins to set.
When your glue is dry, remove the wax paper – it
peels away easily. To clean up the inlay, grab a card
scraper and have at it. All you should be doing is
scraping off the excess glue. If, by chance, your inlay
protrudes from the project, it’s OK to bring it down
to level – the shading is completely through the
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You could hammer veneer the inlay if you're using
hot hide glue. If you work with other glues, however, pressing the inlay in place is best.
inlay pieces, so while you may remove some of the
shading, you’re more apt to lighten it than you are
to make it disappear. From this point on, treat your
inlay as you would any board in your project.
Many eight-point inlays you find use a light and
dark wood, but I followed the pattern found on the
piece I was copying, but there’s no reason why you
shouldn’t let your imagination fly when designing
your inlay. Have fun with it, but make sure you stay
on course.
Wax paper is the key to pressing the inlay into
position without any worry of unwanted adhesion
problems.
Additional Content Online:
Learn how best to protect your inlay from the
discoloration of dyes and stains.
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360
WOODWORKING
©2014 360 WoodWorking all rights reserved
COMPASS POINT INLAY
Full Size Pattern
by Glen D. Huey
from issue No. 1 ~ 360 WoodWorking
more information on this project
online @ 360woodworking.com
360
WOODWORKING
©2014 360 WoodWorking all rights reserved
21/2"
37/8"
13/8"
37/64"
37/64"
15/8"
3"
13/8"
19/64"
COMPASS INLAY
Full Size Pattern
by Glen D. Huey
from issue No. 1 ~ 360 WoodWorking
more information on this project
online @ 360woodworking.com