Festool MFS Fence System Instruction Manual page 43

Once you start adding band inlays and
open field inlays to your work, you will
find many aesthetically pleasing ways to
combine the two. Take your time and do
your set ups carefully and you will be in-
laying like a "master" in no time.
There is one more type of inlay I want to
cover. That is where you do multiple
overlapping open field inlays.
The process is the same. You cut your
first open field inlay and glue and sand
the male in place. When the glue sets
up, add a second, usually differently
shaped inlay that overlaps some portion
of the first. Do the same thing again. Cut
the female recess using the MFS as the
guide. Change guide bushings or add a
snap on ring of the right diameter or
change bearings on your bit to get the
right offset to cut the male. Glue that
male in place and sand it smooth with the
surrounding field and the first inlay.
Do as many of these as you like, over-
lapping where ever you like. They are
fast and easy to do and in pleasing pro-
portions can really add value to your
piece.
A very interesting variant is to do an open
field inlay of a contrasting wood. Then
come back and do another inlay partially
or fully contained within that first inlay in
the field wood. If you keep the grains go-
ing in the same direction and do a bit of
careful selection of colors and grains so
the second inlay closely matches the field
wood, you get a very interesting look that
baffles most as to how this was accom-
plished.
If you use a third wood for the second in-
lay instead of using the field wood you
can create a very interesting effect that
looks like an inlay surrounded by a con-
43
trasting band and without any corner
joints at all. If you want the band to be
the same size all around you will need to
plan your work and positioning of the
MFS rectangle carefully. The ruler mark-
ings on the profiles can really help.
Remember how we used one piece of
MFS extrusion as a vernier fence to posi-
tion a MFS rectangle as a fence or end
stop for cutting? Well, you can do the
same thing to help you position the MFS
rectangle you are using as the open field
inlay guide.
Once you have the MFS set where you
want it for the first inlay, attach two addi-
tional MFS profiles to the two sides of the
rectangle using the "V" nuts in the side
tracks so they extend off over two edges
of the work piece. Use the saddles you
made to fit onto the MFS profiles to snug
up against the edges of the work piece to
fix the position of the rectangle. That way
you can reposition the rectangle with
great accuracy even if you have to re-
move these two additional profile pieces
and remount them later.
After you finish the first inlay shrink the
MFS rectangle in both directions by the
width of the desired band. Now remount
the two additional profile pieces, the ones
with the saddles establishing a side ref-
erence, and move the saddles by one
half of the desired band width thereby
centering the now smaller rectangle over
the original larger one.
Use the same bit and guide bushing to
cut the female recess and you will be left
with a beautiful contrasting band that
looks almost impossible to do. Only you,
or another MFS user will know how you
did it!