A couple of new projects

Mike Mathieu

Member
Messages
116
Location
Midlothian,Va
Hi Everyone
Here are some photos of my newest commissioned projects.
The wedding keepsake box measures 12 x 9 x 5 and is made from antique mahogany salvaged from an old table leaf (1946} The Intarsia has 126 pieces made from 6 different woods.
I used a different technique on the name plaque for this box . Because of the type font used for the names, I had the letters laser engraved into the holly to 1/8" deep then used a mixture of ebony dust and white glue to make a paste, smeared it into the recesses, let it dry and sanded it off.
Woods used; background-maple , flowers-Purpleheart, leaves-Lignum Vitae, stems-Peruvian Walnut, plaque-Holly, flower pots- Pernambuco.
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The Custom Tap Handle is made from walnut with a yellowheart inlay.
The plaque is made from Holly,laser engraved with the lettering done with an ebony dust and white glue paste.
Measures 10" tall x 4" wide
Has a 3/8" brass threaded insert to mount to the tap.
Fun little projects
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Your work always gets me excited. Soon as I get my kaleidoscopes and a model car done, I'm going to give some intarsia a try. Been wanting to try it ever since I saw some of the work you posted on here.
 
Couple of questions if you'd be so kind since I'm working on my first shot at a vaguely similar project :D

  • On the box was the lighter (maple?) backing cut all the way through or are the pieces inset into the backing with there being some backing left? If the latter how do you do the relief cuts?
  • What kind of glue is popular nowadays? I'm looking at just using white glue because its fairly easy to cleanup and.. well I have it.
 
Hi Ryan
Looking at the first photo, The top backer of the box is made from 1/4" birch plywood set 1/4" down from the top of the box.
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The maple is cut to size and all of the scrolling is done for the intarsia by applying the pattern to the sized maple which I print on label paper.
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I use thick CA glue to glue all of the pieces in place.
I have found that white or yellow wood glues may have a tendency to cause the thinner pieces to warp because they are water based.
 
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