first inlay attempt

[craigsimon]

Hi All,

I am half way through my first inlay MOP in a chopping board for the next Aus Barista Championship. I have a few questions there are a few gaps between the MOP and board and to fill I mix sanding dust with the epoxy right? but I am going to stain the board to improve the contrast it is going to be a dark rosewood/black mix do I stain before I glue in the inlay? how do I stain the filler saw dust?

cheers
Craig

[Allen]

I suppose there are various ways of going about this. You could use a dye in the epoxy to get the desired color. I have a selection of Color Tone ones from Stew Mac. I've done this a few times and works great. Saw dust works really good with ebony, but on other woods, the mixture always seems to come out much darker than the the surrounding wood. This could work to your advantage if your going to stain it darker.

It's probably worth trying this out on a piece of scrap to see what it's going to look like before you commit. Cut a slot in a bit of scrap, make up some sawdust / epoxy and fill, then sand back and see what color you get. Try out some stain and you'll get your answer. If the gaps are fairly small, like they appear to be, you should be hard pressed to see them if the color is close.

I think that I would be staining the board after you have inlayed the pearl and sanded it all level. Otherwise the stain is going to get into the end grain where you've routed for the inlay and make that much darker. You will also end up sanding a bit of the surface to level out the epoxy and inlay, so will likely screw up the stained wood somewhat.

Be sure to post a picture of the completed project. Nice design so far.

[Taffy Evans]

Hi Craig
I agree with Allens comments. For me inlaying into lighter coloured timber is a slower procedure to get as close a perfect fit as possible,not always achievable. Even on ebony I try for perfect fits. What I do is route out up to the outline [ but the pearl does not fully fit] then I put a suitable round dental burr in my Dremal and using the shaft as a guide against the edge's of the outline I undercut around the design. I can then make very small controlled cuts to the thin area of wood up to the scribed line with a sharp knife or a specialy modified 1/16 inch chisel. When the inlay is pressed into the recess the epoxy fills any unercut thats left. I'm talking small amounts here.

Heres a picture of my next inlay, it's abalone and just layed out to get a good balance, two legs to go and the engraving.

The other picture is of the inlay work on a Gibson Mastertone Banjo, not a cheep little sucker, ya gotta do better than that. Well looks like you have already.

[craigsimon]

Hi Allan and Taffy,

Thanks for the help and advice, Taffy I should have left the final routing fit for another day, I rushed and there are a few gaps, nothing more than 1mm but still I know I could have done better. I have 3 more duplicates to do so I am hoping they get better and better. Photo updates to continue.

cheers
Craig

[craigsimon]

glued in place, mixed stained wood sawdust with epoxy hopefully will be pretty close to actual stained wood colour.



here was the inspiration

[Kim]

Excellent interpretation Craig, well done.

[kiwigeo]

A Latte art inlay...dandy

[craigsimon]

still need to stain and lacquer but am very pleased with outcome so far

[craigsimon]

i'm thinking about having a crack at this one for two of the boards

[Allen]

Never mind the inlay, I want to know how you get that to look like that in my cuppa?

[craigsimon]

I wish it was as easy as my first attempt at inlay. I think I have made about 800,000 coffees over the last 4 years. After about 50,000 you have to start finding things to keep you interested!!!! hence practice pretty patterns

[Kim]

Craig,

I reckon your patterns are brilliant, there beauty would see me hesitant to drink the coffee...but not for long, I just love gooood coffee.

Cheers

Kim

[kiwigeo]

Dragging a teaspoon across the froth is one way of making patterns in your coffee.

[craigsimon]

more progress first coat of lacquer still wet

[Allen]

Looks pretty swish. The stain really makes that pearl stand out now.

[craigsimon]

got 2 more done. One a duplicate of the first and the other of my second design. here is a pic

[Sam Price]

I really don't pop in here often these days, but I REALLY had to log into comment on this fabulous inlay work!!

A fantastic way to find inspiration; I want to ask also-how DID you get the lattes to look like that. DO you use a cocktail stick and swirl the stuff around?