But I wanted to go a step beyond simple scroll work.  I wanted to combine scrolling with my other woodworking.  Inlaid boxes were the natural step.  After a few false starts I came upon a series of processes that works well for me.  The first step is to make the boxes themselves and I like fingerjointed boxes.  Mitered boxes, or butt jointed ones or Dovetailed boxes would work just as well.  I also cut a dado for the bottom of the box to float in.  No glue there, and I use cedar for the bottom, resaw to about 1/4".  A great smell, renewed by a slight sanding every now and then.  Also protect from moths if someone were to store some hankies or such in the box.

Once the box is assembled and glued up, I run it through the planer, first the top edge, then the bottom.  This takes care of any slight problems from the glue-up.  I also lay out and drill the holes for the mini-barrel hinges at this point.  I generally mark the centers for the holes about 1/4" from the inside edge of the back of the box.  I use a 5mm bradpoint bit in the drill press for this.

Then I start work on the top.  Using the same type of wood as the sides, and as often as possible, a piece from the same board, I resaw this into two pieces, one of which is approximately 3/16".  This gives me a bit to plane down to remove saw marks.  You could sand it down smooth also.






Using the thin cheap double sided carpet tape, I attach the contrasting piece for the inlay to the 1/8" thick piece of the lid.  The contrasting piece is also resawn, then planed to approximately 1/8" thick.  The pattern is then attached to the top of the contrasting inlay piece with temporary spray adhesive.  Starter holes are then drilled through the workpieces with a wire gage drill bit of the appropriate size for the scrollsaw blade to be used keeping in mind that with inlays there is no waste side of the cut.



The table of the scrollsaw is tilted at the appropriate angle, for two 1/8" pieces and a number 5 Flying Dutchman Skip tooth Reverse blade, I tilt the table to about 4 1/2 degrees.  I usually cut the outside peripheral cut first for inlays, as opposed to doing the inside cuts first for normal scroll work.  I cut with the teeth of the blade toward me so the inlay part of the top piece is kept on the downhill side of the table during the cut.  On my saw, that is the left side of the blade.  Again keeping in mind that there is no waste side in inlay work, you can not back out of a tight "V" cut and spin the piece in the waste and back into the cut to come out with the tight "V".  You can, however, shut the saw off, unthread the blade, spin the piece 180 degrees (or thereabouts) and rethread the blade at the end of the cut into the "V" so that it is facing back out, but this is very time consuming if you've got a lot of tight turns to make like when doing the wings of a bird or the mane on a horse etc.  For those I generally just spin the piece keeping the turn as tight as I can.  For larger inside cuts I keep the cutouts from the bottom piece to glue into the inlayed piece.  For very small ones, it is nearly impossible to do this, so I will fill those and the intererior kerf cuts later on with a mix of sawdust and epoxy.  Also keep in mind that if you wander off of the line on the pattern, you can not go back and recut at the line.  It'll leave a big gap.  Just slowly work yourself back onto the line.

Once the scroll work is done, I've found it easier to just slip the top piece down into the cout made in the bottom piece with the pieces still taped.  Then flip it over and carefully pry the piece from the inlay piece with a wide chisel. then remove any tape that stayed on the inlay.  I like to use a bit more angle when cutting so that the inlayed piece drops in just proud of the field piece, then glue from the back side with yellow glue.  Once the glue sets up, I sand the inlay down flush to the field on the top.  I set the inlayed top aside after I've flood on some linseed oil, let it sit a few minutes, then wiped off the excess.  This pops the grain of both woods real nicely.



Next I mark the back of the box so I know where the hinge holes are located and glue the thicker piece from the resawn lid onto the top of the box.  I use plenty of clamps and keep the glue well toward the outer perimeter to prevent squeeze-out on the inside.  Cleaning up dried squeezeout on the inside is difficult.  Once the glue sets up, I remove the clamps and move to the tablesaw.  With the blade tilted at different angles, up to about 18 degrees max, I rough out the outside shape of the box.  The "corners" of the rough cuts will later be rounded on the sander.  I also am careful not to remove too much on the back side where the hinges will be.  Once I have the basic rough shape I am looking for, I set up to cut the top off of the box.  I install a tall fence onto the table saw fence and set the fence so that my cut will be just below the top finger of the sides of the box.  The blade height is set so that it cuts through the sides with a little bit to spared.  Then keeping the bottom of the box snug against the tall fence I make the first cut all of the way through.  I then rotate the box 90 degrees toward the front of the saw so that the kerf from the first cut is lined up with the blade.  Again keeping the bottom against the fence, I make the second cut, and then the third side is cut the same way.  Now I insert two shims the same thickness as my blade into the kerf from the cut on the sides adjacent to the final side.  These shims keep the lid from squeezing in onto the blade as the final cut is made.  Again keeping the bottom against the fence, I make the final pass to remove the lid.

The photo at right shows how part of what was the sides of the box is now part of the lid.  This serves a couple of purposes, 1) it makes the lid more stable, and 2) it gives you perfectly aligned holes for the hinges.  It also looks pretty darned good.

The miniature barrel hinges require that a bevel be cut into both the back of the lid and the back of the box to the center of the hinges to allow the lid to open.





I cut these on the the table saw, sneaking up on the final cut using my micro adjuster.  The bevels can be left with the sharp angle, but I like to round them off on the sander.






I also like to add a finger grip to the front of the lid to facilitate opening the box.  This is done on the table saw with the rip fence.  I have marked the top dead center of the blade on my throat plate insert and transfered the mark to my tall fence which is still in place from cutting the lid off.  By aligning the mark on the throat plate to that on the fence the fence is indexed to the throat plate and therefore to the blade.  I can then measure out equal distance in front of and behind the mark on the fence and use those as guides.  I lift the blade up to about 2/3 the thickness of the lid, then with the lid against the blade I slide the fence over to the back side of the lid and snug down the micro adjuster to the fence rail.  I lift out the lid, adjust the fence 1/8" closer to the the blade, then start the saw.  I lay the back edge of the lid against the fence with the front edge about centered, holding the front up at an angle, then slowly lower the front down onto the spinning blade.  I then slide the lid back to where the edge closest to me is adjacent to the end mark on the fence, then slide it forward so that the far edge meets the mark at the far side of the fence.  You could also clamp stop blocks at those points.  I feel comfortable doing it this way since I am not making a through cut, but others may feel otherwise.  I keep a good grip on the lid, well away from the cut and never in line with the blade.