Celtic Key Pattern Inlaid Box

[evermorian]

@evansd2

You got a link to the spiral project

Oop! Yeah, I meant to link that in the post (and it is now):

Simple Spiral Inlaid Box

Hello there! I’m Stan. [ACrawford_20200213_0019] Encouraged by @evansd2, I had a first go at doing a simple inlaid box. It was educational and, feels like it is not terrible. Designed entirely in Inkscape (instead of my usual, Corel Draw). Proofgrade cherry hardwood with flip-fit maple inlay. Good but, not snap fit on joints, held with wood glue. Finished with a couple coats of wipe-on poly. The lid fits snugly enough that the magnets were likely unnecessary. [ACrawford_20200213_0017] …

[davidgal2]

The pattern that is engraved looks fantastic.

[evansd2]

@davidgal2

engraved

Proving @raymondking32 right.

This isn’t engraved, it’s inlaid. It’s just very very good inlay.

[evermorian]

I assumed that was a semi-trolling compliment.

[PrintToLaser]

Very nice work. Looks like that inlay needed to be tapped in, great fit!

[cynd11]

Ooooo, that’s nice! Perfect setting for the dice.

[ptodd]

Beautiful work! Very inspiring!

[Helene]

Beautiful Box

[djfb]

I thought it was engraved until you said it was inlayed. Great job

[fbrgoch]

Looks great!!

[timjedwards]

Very attractive inlay, great finish…

[dwardio]

Very nice!

[pubultrastar]

So nice! Great job on the video too!

[pauline.lally]

Absolutely a beautiful inlaid box and great write up and video. Yes show us all your work.

[kelley1]

Hi there, good to see you around. Hope you are inspired to show us what you make.

[fbrgoch]

I’m still waiting on my gf pro to be delivered. But look forward to showing items off

[edavis]

I love the look of this! How did you adjust the kerf for the inlay? I’ve been wanting to try this, but I wasn’t sure about that part of it.

[evermorian]

I used the standard Inkscape stroke-to-path approach to adjust for kerf:

Inkscape - Adjusting for Kerf in your Design

Adjusting for Kerf in Inkscape2.pdf (751.3 KB)

I also “flip mated” the pieces in an attempt to adjust for any kerf profile (the edges of a laser cut are slightly angled). That is, the inlay pieces were mirrored and cut from the opposite side than the pieces they set into.

I think this thread has some more tips on doing inlay with complex shapes:

Improving kerf adjustment on complex shapes

This is an inkscape-specific thing, but may apply elsewhere. Kerf adjustment is well-trod territory at this point, but I recently decided to see if there was anything to improve performance. The issue: when doing a “stroke-to-path” action on an irregular shape, you can sometimes see deformation of the resulting paths. The solution: add more nodes. The software is making a best-guess estimate, which you can improve with extra nodes. Illustrated: On the left, the original shape. On the righ…

I did several small test pieces to figure out exact settings for my materials and, to practice. I think I used maybe almost $2 USD worth of wood on the tests. So, I would definitely encourage that approach to get going and allay any anxiety.

There are several people active here who do inlay, if you run into problems and get stuck.

[breececonstruction]

Wow that’s very inspiring to expand my creativity

Thanks

[donnalynn829]

Lovely.