V-carve inlay

[steve_g]

My first attempt at V-carve-inlay as described and Developed by Paul Zank and Damien Durrant. I inlayed a Purple Heart pixy into Bird's Eye Maple... I learned enough from this exercise to avoid very fine features... All that's left of the pixy's eyes are the glue lines!

I'm actually impressed with the method and will try some less detailed images soon... I'd like to try a multi step multi wood/color project next.

SG

[myxpykalix]

You're such a showoff Steve! lol
That actually looks really neat. The few times i've tried an inlay i was plagued by designs that had skinny lines in the design that would up disappearing but to the bit/depth/slop factor i had on my table so this looks like it turned out real nice.

What bit/depth combination did you use? good job!

[Brady Watson]

Very nice, Steve. Thanks for posting!

-B

[jdervin]

Love it! Looking forward to your multi wood/color results as well.

[Doug Smith]

Steve,
That is wonderfully done. I think the total composition works, so very well. The inlay portion is masterful.

Doug

[steve_g]

"What bit/depth combination did you use?"

Jack... if you recall, this method uses V-carved artwork and a matching "negative" V-carving... so the distance the vectors are apart determine the depth. I used a 60° V-bit. My first attempt resulted in many "lost" lines. I re-worked the vectors to simplify and thicken them. If I were to redo this or similar art work I would try to find a narrower V-bit. In retrospect, it was probably unreasonable to expect the eyes to do well at any angle and I was fortunate they look as well as they do.

SG

[Hoytbasses]

wow.

excellent

kfh

[tomwillis]

Steve - excellent work. I m trying to do a briefcase now, with an inlay - but not nearly as intricate as yours. Question - do you think or have you tried a Carving Liner bit? I have one - but have never used it.
Tom

[steve_g]

Thomas...

To be honest, I had never heard of a carving liner bit... I had to Google it. The one I found was a 9° V-bit. While I think my inlay would have been better with a sharper angle bit this seems extreme! I'm going to pick up a 30° next. I would encourage you to try the technique with your liner bit... and tell me how it did! My gut feel... The beauty of the V-inlay method is the stability/strength of the part you're going to inlay. No itty bitty fragile pieces. I'm afraid you might loose some of the foolproofness of the method and have some breakage of the sharp angles while routing.

Try it!

SG

[Bob Eustace]

Lovely work Steve! I love this process as its so forgiving on projects with less detail than yours. The glue up can have a 10 degree slope and still work. We do heaps of coasters with an Amoora motorhome in the middle and then the name done in Cyprus Pine. Have found you get zero chipping and loss of detail if you cut the bulk off on the bandsaw them keep passing it through the drum sander with 80 grit. Another massive advantage is you can use all your vee cutters that you have dropped or run into a screw with to make the male plug as thats non critical. Look forward to seeing your next effort!