I'm working on my second kit and would like to put a few inlays in the stock. How are they normally secured? I'm thinking they're possibly screwed in or nailed in and the heads filed flush with the inlay. I guess you'd have to be careful if the inlay had any engraving in it. Any info would be greatly appraciated.
Thanks, Gene
You about nailed it, pun intended. Modern-day builders like to go in for various adhesives, but the traditional and IMHO still most secure and appealing way of going about it is to pin the inlays into place.
Incidentally, much if not most inlay engraving is done after the inlay is installed, not before, for the exact reason you referred to -- the ease with which a portion or all of an engraved surface could be marred by a hammer blow gone bad or a misdirected swipe of a scraper or piece of sandpaper.
There seems to me to be a prejudice against visible screw heads or pins, on traditionally-styled guns. Considering that screws, nails, and pins are abundantly visible on just about every original muzzleloader in existence, all I can figure is that modern-day builders are of the mistaken belief that the screw-less, pin-less methods used are somehow an improvement on how metal bits and pieces were originally joined to wood.
THAT ought to get a few epoxy buffs fired up.... blah