Help With Inlay's

[Russell Cues]

Well I will have to admit to myself and now to everyone, I have two left hands ( instead of feet) when it come to inlays. I have been practicing A LOT with the hightower inlay machine I have. I have tried to knife the ends of the pockets on diamonds or spears etc., to sharpen them but it looks like a 2 year old hacked at it !

I have wanted to drop inlays into my cues for a while now but, I don't want the "rounded" ends. Unfortunately I'm more of a hands on guy, I can read or watch something being done but until I get my hands on it, it doesn't sink in all the way. It probably doesn't help that I am anal about my cue building, being precise and 'right the first time". I'm at a loss, I have a couple of practice pieces I've been using but I just cant get it right... Idea's ?

 

[cueman]

Take one of the cut off tools for the lathe and grind the end of it to the same angle of the end of the diamond. Then you can use that to lightly hammer in the ends of the pocket. That is shown in the first 30 minutes of the DVD. That way is easier than knifing in with a knife type of blade.

 

[Russell Cues]

Thanks Chris, I have not looked at the videos in a while, I might need to refresh my memory. I have some hss tool blanks I can grind to match the angle. Yea, I tried to make some "penny chisels" didn't work quite the way I wanted.