First, I dry assembled the pre-finished panels to make the table. Then I drew the design onto tracing paper and laid it onto the panels until I found grain patterns that complemented the design. For the poppy design I used a craft glue stick to tack the tracing paper down. For the straight lines on the leg panel I used a ruler and a white pencil to mark their location.

 I disassembled the table and routed the straight lines first. With the distance from the center of the bit to the edge of the router’s base in mind, I used double-stick tape to attach a straight piece of wood to the legs’ surface so the router base would have something to run against. This was an easy set-up, which I could quickly adjust to cut the different grooves.

With the three straight grooves finished, I reassembled the table to ensure the bullet lines matched the poppy stems. I disassembled the table and cut the grooves for the flowers. To get an organic look I did this freehand with the router and made sure to only drink tea before starting, as a steady hand was needed. Then I used a card-scraper, which I modified to have a slight hook, and cleaned out the grooves of any debris.

To determine the length of silver I needed, I measured the groove with a piece of string. This helped prevent the finished surface from getting scratched and made measuring the curved parts on the flower petals easier. I then placed two towels over the panel on either side of the grooves to protect the wood. Using wire cutters, I cut the silver to length and turned it on edge. I abraded the sides of the silver in order to give the silver some tooth. I mixed up small amounts of two-part epoxy, which had nine minutes of open time. Working in short sections, I put the epoxy into the groove using a wooden BBQ skewer, which I modified to have a flat paddle-like end.

I used two methods to tap in the silver. For the straight sections I placed a small block of wood on the silver and tapped that with a small hammer. For the flower petals I used my plane adjustment hammer, which has a wood block on one side of the head.

After completing each straight line, I put a board with some weight on top of the inlay and let the epoxy harden. I inserted the flower stems in the same way as the bullets, but for the flower petals I used short strips of silver and manipulated them to match the curves with tweezers. For some of the petals I used a knife to extend the routed groove to create a thinner more organic line and cut or hammered the silver tips to match the groove size.

I let everything dry overnight and used a steel-bottomed block plane (brass is too soft) to flush the silver to the wood.

I used the epoxy sparingly to avoid a mess. Don’t use green tape to mask off the wood as I did. I didn’t notice that tiny pieces of tape got stuck between the wood and the silver until it was too late. I had many tiny green monsters to deal with.

To make the silver tank I photocopied my design and used craft glue to attach it to an 18 ga. sheet of silver. Using a small coping saw with a metal blade, and beeswax for lubrication, I cut the tank out. I then filed the edges and had a local jeweler buff the tank to a nice polish.

To trace the tank design onto the wood, I made a negative template and tacked it to the wood using craft glue. I used a laminate trimmer to remove most of the waste for the tank then used a small chisel to perfect the edges. After doing one practice piece, then the real thing, I epoxied the routed area and laid the tank in. I clamped on a wooden caul I made to match the tank profile and let the glue cure overnight.