Puma in black horn....First attempt at an Inlay transfer..Yikes!

[Brando]

Well here we go! There was nothing done to the blade it self. I was going for an original look the scales are black horn and I recycled the original wedge(Actually, this restore I had done a while back. But the tranfer I did today). And today for the first time, I successfully removed and reused the original inlay. Talk about tedious!
1. I used some acetone to soften the old scacles and very care fully used a needle and a razor to remove the inlay. ( This method I do believe I obtained at some time here on SRP.)
2. I then cleaned and smoothed out the inlay and contoured it to the shape of the scales.
3. I laid out exactly where I wanted it
4. I applied CA to the back of the inlay sparingly with a toothpick
5. Very carefully and quickly applied inlay to the scales. After inlay was applied I burnished it down making sure it was smooth and all edges were adhered.( This part was tense, I think I held my breath the whole time)

Now I'm looking at this and on the original scales it was actually inlayed into the scales and what I just did, was just glue it on the surface of the scales. It looked good but the feel was just wrong. I just didn't like it. So I deciced to build up around the edges with CA. Bare in mind I have never done this before and I'm thinking this is going one of two ways, decent or I just ruined a completed razor.

6. I used a toothpick to sparingly apply the CA to the center of the inlay and around the outside edges of the inlay. I did two coats.
Then I went with 320 grit sandpaper and sanded until the face of the inlay was exposed and then feathered the exterior edges so the CA blended into the horn.
7. Then I went through my progression of finish sanding with micromesch and and then buffed it

Honest opinions and advice welcomed. If any one would like to share how they do inlay transfers I would very much like to hear it.

~Tony