Thread: Fixing the Gap on Inlay

Below are a couple of photos of a pair scales from the half dozen I've been toying with forever now. The "inlay" on this set is not really inlay, I cut a hole in each scales and then cut faux tortoise of the same thickness and inserted them into the hole then epoxy and sanding, followed by backing the scale inside with brass to reflect light better. What's been taking so long is that I'm exploring what I can do with different types of Micarta (beyond just shaping it), pins for decorative purposes, and various inlay ideas.

That's all fine but the issue of how to fill in some spaces between the inlaid faux tortoise and the Micarta is eating my lunch. This set of scales would be about 1/16" thicker but for the number of times I've sanded CA and other things to try to fill in the gaps. The most promising approach seemed to be to put CA on/in the gaps, sprinkle in a bit of black Micarta dust, and then sand after drying. No dice - the gaps reappear. My wife took a look and gave me a pin from her quilting stash to see if that'll clean out some dust (the light stuff in the photos) and it did clear it out but that's only part of the solution - the white stuff along some edges are dust from sanding that's gone now - now the issue remains as to how to fill those gaps.

Thin CA hasn't done it yet. Am I just doing something wrong in my application of CA, in my sanding, or is CA just a stupid idea and there's a better way to fill these gaps? Maybe using the needle to work CA deep into the gaps? I'm now at the point where I need to step away from it, accept that I'm stuck like glue, and ask for ideas. I'd just leave them as is but I won't be able to honestly look at these and not have it bother me. And if I decide to sell them around a blade, well, I just couldn't do it in good conscience.

Thanks - Mike