I’m ripping my own so they’re hardwood. I can get them down to a little less than 1/8. I was ripping them smaller but the ends were burning when I had to cut smaller points.
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Goes back to what I said - change the cut on the inlay so it is a tight press fit. You shouldn’t have to clamp anything for work like that.
I’m not criticizing your work - you’re asking for help - but I see gaps between the inlay and the surrounding material. The “best inlay process” is to adjust your cuts until there is no visible gap. That means you have to adjust the design.
Also be aware that the cuts are not perfectly vertical, so you can make it even tighter by flipping the inlay cuts.
It sounds complicated, it is, but once you figure it out, it makes for parts that fit together perfectly.
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Really one of the biggest keys to success here will be ensuring the inlaid material and the surround are the same thickness.
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No offense taken. Like I said, this was done on the fly. I know there’s a ton of room for improvement so I’m open to the critique and welcome the help. I love the look of them so I’d like to improve before I try bigger pieces.
I’ll try it!
Not arguing with the master of inlay here, but as long as the inlay is a tight fit from above when cut “inverted”, it works out just fine when they are different thicknesses. That hex thing you shared, I made from walnut and clear acrylic, the side I worked from is smooth, the underside is not.
I also think I’m not going deep enough with the engraving. Im really freaked out because I was engraving wenge for an inlay and it started to smoke like it was going to catch. I am currently doing 1 pass at 1000 and full power and a second at 1500. It makes a pocket just big enough that it doesn’t move when I clamp it and can sand it down. I’m sure that if I wasn’t so scared to go deeper into the wood that it would be easier and probably fit better too.
I’m going to try it inverted today with your suggestions. I have some scraps of zebrawood and walnut.
Start with a circle. I found that, for me, helped figure out how to scale everything.
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That was my point.
The worst case is that you have to sand them to be the same thickness, which is always a drag.
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Ah yes, agreed. In my case - and I believe here - the underside is not important.
If needing it perfect on both sides then absolutely need to be the same thickness.
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I meant you could cut your own double-sided tape to make your own veneer with an adhesive backing so no gluing would be required.
I wish I had the space for a band saw and the time to cut down hardwood boards. Jealous now.
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Wait no more:
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I’ve removed nodes before, but never added. It makes a lot of sense.
I remove a lot from other people’s work.
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Yeah I was like “duh.” I’d always been frustrated by this phenomenon, and actually gave up on a design or two in the past because of that issue.
You can actually also improve it by breaking nodes, but then you have the problem of the abrupt transitions not working well with stroke-to-path.
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And other people’s work is usually a trace of a bitmap. Technically I made it, but it wasn’t my bitmap and I didn’t write the Inkscape code, so… other people.
I was woodworking before I was engraving so I have a shop in my garage but luckily I was also a photo editor for many years so know photoshop and was able to pick up illustrator fairly quickly for the most part.
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That looks really sharp!
Is that cut thru or engraved?
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Thanks! It’s engraved. I was too chicken to try to cut all the way through.
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Engraving is the more difficult way, and means the back side of the material is left intact, so you’ve pretty much mastered it. Well done!
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