New inlay tools from Red Rose Reproduction now in Australia
Steve Latta is a US educator and woodworker who is well known for his expertise in stringing and inlay techniques. Red Rose Reproductions, premium hand tool makers, have released a series of related tools designed by Steve Latta. These will be now stocked by Lie Nielsen Australia.
The tools include:
- Slicing gauge. This tool is used to slice veneer into thin strips to form pieces of stringing. It works much like a marking gauge, and can be used for that purpose just as well. This is the only tool that is not ambidextrous, so it is available in both right-hand and left-hand versions to suit the user’s preference.
- Thicknessing gauge. Used to trim stringing to a precise thickness to fit into the grooves made by the radius cutter and straight-line cutter. This tool has two cutters, and one can be set up to get the stringing close to size, and the other for the final sizing.
- Radius cutter. Used to cut grooves to receive stringing on a radius. It can cut a radius from 11/16″ to 4″. With the optional extension rods, it can cut any size radius required. Each pair increases the maximum radius that can be cut by 3″. Comes with two pivot points of different heights.
- Straight-line cutter. Used to cut straight grooves parallel to the sides of the workpiece. Comes with two cutters: one for cross-grain and one for with-the-grain cutting.