Wire thickness for inlaying

I am going to do some inlaying of birds and leaf structures in steel which will be blued when finished.
I have used sheet gold and silver in the past, but would like to use the wire tech. and was wondering what thickness of 24kt gold wire and Fine silver wire is recomended for this application.
Also has anybody used 22kt green gold in this process.

thanks ZZ

Are you going to create a cavity and are you going flush or raised? Or are you going to inlay into burs on the original surface? What some call overlay.
This governs the wire size.
Yes, I have used 22k green gold plenty of times. Works harder than 24k yellow but not too bad.

I am doing inlays which are flush yes cavity and will be using the stippling method to secure the gold

If you are going to use gold wire (24k) you will need teeth in three directions and if harder wire like silver I have always had to resort to parallel dovetailed lines as the teeth would not stand up to the hardness of the wire.

PS...I normally use .016" 24k wire (.425mm) and mostly do raised inlays/overlays.

Thanks Sam,
I was going to give Thierry Duguet Inlaying process a try as he demonstrates on his youtube channel. He simply cuts out the area to be inlayed and then with a sharp pointed tool stipples the recessed area where the gold will be inlayed. I questioned it at first but I did a small test leaf with silver and it worked great.
I was just curious what other engravers typically use for this process. As I have always used sheet to do inlays but it can be trying to do all the small areas with sheet. Then having to work tiny pieces in around the edges.
I am sure with your experience you are well aware of all this, I was just wondering if there was a standard dia wire that people go to when they have to do inlays using the wire tech.

Happy Holidays and Thanks for the input as always ZZ

I keep a range of 24K and fine silver wire from 20 to 28 gauge in my drawer. Use mostly 22 & 24 here of late.

Sheets of those metals from 20 to 28, use mostly 24 & 26.

The 20 gauge wire or sheet can always be drawn or rolled down.

Also use a small amount of pure platinum. Make my own colored alloys as needed.


Never tried stippling or Winston Churchill's criss-cross channels for larger inlays/overlays? Always raised teeth from several directions.


Brian