I used 6mm plug cutter to make Maple & Mahogany dowels for one of the Necks in pic.

Careful to align the grain.

I think with metal surround, you could do similar and it would work well

Better view 

That is gorgeous - excellent bit of work!

Wow Eddie, your necks are looking absolutely stunning! That is really some excellent craftsmanship, you must be proud 😊 

I'll get my hands on a 6mm plug cutter, is there a way of using this so that I don't cut out the middle? Just leaving a ring?

Also, for the 12th fret I'm aiming to have a larger circle around 45mm, any suggestions?

Thanks 

@Schwifty. I would explain but Mark covered this in one of his you tube live streams. Search for it in his channel. Explains how. Making dowels and hammering it in metal tubing or plug cutting dots. Been doing it myself. 

Here is the link to the relevant livestream - just one way to do it 😉

Thanks Mark, I found the link and have ordered parts to get it going to action! Thanks so much for all the help everyone, I love this site! I will add some photos when done!

@schwifty

There is a way of cutting a ring and leaving the centre core, it's been discussed on another thread a few months ago. It's called a double ring cutter and is used by violin bow makers to insert a silver ring into ebony. I'm hoping to try and make one on my metal lathe sometime when I get through all the other jobs I have, as they are very expensive to buy.

Hi Swifty,

Or you could use a Dremel with a guide bush on the base and some templates with the correct sized holes cut in them. I would say that trying to to keep the small core pieces is going to be pretty challenging compared to making up a solid insert and sticking it in a hole as Mark does and you will need a very small cutter. Wealden Tool supply solid carbide straight cutters down to 1mm with a 1/4" shank but you will need to be careful using one of these as carbide is very brittle in small sections.

If you are looking for round, square or rectangular metal tubing you could do worse than these guys https://www.glrkennions.co.uk/

Cheers

Darren