Re-cycleing Kiwi ashtrays (Full Shell to Inlay Blanks)

[DarwinStrings]

A bit more on re-cycleing. I don't really advise this as a better or cheaper way of getting your inlay material. The truth is, is that it is time consuming. However I make instruments because I love to make things and starting with the basics is very satisfying for me.

Pic 1. Your average Kiwi ashtray ( choosen for this inlay because of its mainly purple colour)

Pic 2. Small pieced cut out on a cheap Ryobi, wet tile cutter.

Pic 3. A cheap method to flatten one side of the pieces also using water to avoid breathing the dust.

Pic 4. Mounted on a piece of aliminium with double sided tape so it can be fed into the saw blade useing the fence to thickness it to, in this case 1.5mm.

Pic 5. About one hours work

Pic 6. The piece still mounted to the aluminium after running it past the blade.




Jim

Don't smoke.......(Yul Brynner)

[DarwinStrings]

The peices I cut yesterday now epoxied into the neck as fret markers and rough sanded.




Jim

[Hesh1956]

That looks great Jim!!!!

[Stephen Kinnaird]

Jim, looks great up here in Texas.
I like your design.

Steve

[Kim]

Great looking shell and great looking design Jim unique, stylish and tasteful.

Well Done

Kim

[Lillian]

Thanks for the tutorial. You make it look way easy. I like your design. Might have to steal that. Thanks for sharing.

[Runn3r]

lovely work Jim!

[hilo_kawika]

Very clean and imaginative. Great work, Jim.

aloha,

Dave Hurd
www.ukuleles.com

[DarwinStrings]

Thanks for the positive feedback you mob.

Lillian, no need to steal, you are welcome to use my designs provided you don't mind swelling my head to a point where I can't get through my shed door to make more guitars.

Anyone is welcome to use my designs for personal use but as a practicing artist I do claim artists copyright and expect payment to be negotiated before any of my work is used for a commercial purpose .

The purple heart in the inlay has been fresh sanded in that pic and is now a much brighter purple as it has had some time to oxidize.

Jim

[Lillian]

Thank you Jim. When I get brave enough to try inlaying, I'll be doing some thing like yours. Hope I don't butcher it too badly. If I don't I won't credit it to your work.

[kiwigeo]

Im ashamed to be a Kiwi when I see those bldi ash trays....same goes for plastic tiki salad servers.

Glad to see the things being chopped up and made into something much nicer.

[Taffy Evans]

Nice one Jim, your right about the work involved, all my inlys have come from the pearl or aboloni [Iknow] shells. I once did a whole set of block inlays, Gibson LP style, cut myself from the shell, you dont get much from one shell.
I just walked from the shop after photographing my inlay process, I post it later.
Nice work Jim, I dont smoke but I think I'll ask for ashtrys for my birthday anyway.

[Lillian]

Its odd the things you remember. My maternal grandparents lived in New York while we lived in Virginia. It was a major deal to go see them, so we only went at Christmas. Seeing the ashtray sparked dodgy old memories that haven't come to the surface in forever. My grandparents had a shell ashtray that I just loved, well right up until they started using it. It was beautiful and strange and colorful, especially to a 4 year old. I knew that it had to come from a place that was just as beautiful and exotic as it was and one day if I was really good, I'd get to see where it came from myself. It may have taken more years than I had expected, but I will get to see where that beautiful shell came from and realize just how right I was all those years ago.

I'm sorry it's an embarrassment Martin, and one day I might understand why it is, but for now, all I see is the beauty of one of Nature's gifts.

[DarwinStrings]

I did some work work on the recycled Kiwi ashtray. One day it will be a guitar I promise.

In pic one you can see the pendant motor attatchment in it's housing (home made) it is a collet type and I use down cut bits, You can also see that I inlay the wood (purple heart) that is to take the shell first. I photo copy the design many times stick it on with spray adhesive then cut out the shapes. For the large wooden pieces I just hold them in place by hand on the workpiece and trace around them with a sharp pencil then cut the pocket.

I then glue the photo copy on to the workpiece to cut the smaller pockets for the shell and also glue it onto the shell to cut the shapes from the shell.




In pic two (left) you can see I've mixed epoxy and dyed it with aniline dye then started to place the shell in the pocketsas well as the last piece of purple heart. Then (center) after its all in place I wipe it clean with gum turps, you can still see the photo copied pattern stuck to the shell. Finally (right) the whole thing is leveled and sanded.




Pic three the combination of headstock and fret board



Jim

[Dennis Leahy]

Outstanding work! And, very cool!

Maori influenced, I suppose?

Dennis

[Nick]

Nice work Jim, great design & great execution.I don't usually like alot of Paua shell but your's is just enough to be tasteful. Call me mr Thicko!! but I never thought to mix aniline dies with the epoxy to match colours So thanks for that little Tip
I'm with Martin on this one, good to see the beauty of the shell instead one placed in every room of the house & of full of Mum & Dad's ciggy ashes.
And Dennis I would say it's more Hawaian/polynesian influence?

[Allen]

Did you find that the dye wanted to leach into the lighter headstock wood, or have you sealed it with shellac first.

I've used black to stain epoxy before and I did find it did creep into some light endgrain a bit. But I hadn't of thought about it, and hadn't sealed with shellac.

[sebastiaan56]

Very cool Jim, what kind of axe? a Telecasterish animal perhaps?

[DarwinStrings]

Cheers guys.

I guess anything I design is influenced by everything I've seen, to narrow it down though i suppose tattoos would be the closest so Polynesian maybe.

No shellac Allen, the dye seems to be contained by the epoxy and also the maple so fine grained that it doesn't seem to get in enough to worry about.

This one will be a Bulletish beasty Sebastiaan with three noiseless alnico pickups.

Jim