O.M.G. that is absolutely farkin’ brilliant! Beautiful pieces! I cannot wait to try this technique! Those are some premium pieces to display at my local neighborhood ‘farmer’s market.’
My brain itchez in a most fantastic way right now! THANK YOU!
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I’m all over this! Excellent work and thanks for the technique and clues.
I need to think about why you mention flipping a piece over so they meet face to face…is there another way to illustrate what you are saying?
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The shape of the cut matters. Anytime you cut with the laser there is a slight slope to the sides of the cut. Flipping one piece over lets you meet them face-to-face so the sides align better. I call this process “flip-mating”.
I’m away from my computer, so I can’t really provide a visual aid, but think of it as like a keystone of an arch, you want the sides to align and mate properly. You can test this with any piece of scrap cuts that you have laying around. Lay the two pieces edge to edge with their faces up. You’ll see a gap between the two faces.
Now flip both of them over, so that you see the two backs… They will align with nearly no gap, but there will still be a gap between the two front faces (now facing down).
Now, flip one over and align them. There should be very little gap on either side. Making any sense?
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So creative and beautiful. I hope it is a post that will launch a thousand projects!
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That’s a great combo, I think. My eyes and brain blend the joint together really well.
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Here’s a better explanation of cut shape (or cut profile) with illustrations by @jules. Hopefully it can show why flipping one piece helps to make the edges mate cleanly.
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Absolutely beautiful work, thanks so much for sharing! Very inspiring.
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Not sure whether I’m more inspired or intimidated. That box is just stunning. I love the color combos!
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Oh, man, it’s all beautiful, but “shockwave” takes my breath away! Amazing stuff. Keep blazing trails, I love learning from you! 
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Absolutely beautiful.
As a woodturner, the wenge/maple hexagon gives me a ton of ideas for segmented bowls. Beautiful work.
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I like it too, but caveat: the padauk orange/red color wants to bleed into the maple when you sand. The sawdust from the padauk will get ground into the maple and end up with orangey smudge into the maple side.
To counter this, I had to do a few techniques:
- constantly clean the sandpaper
- use a brush to remove the sawdust from the piece as I worked
- generally work “into” the padauk side, meaning slowly migrate the sanding block toward the padauk side
- use a light touch with the sandpaper to prevent grinding the dust into the maple
- thoroughly clean the piece before finishing
- finally when finishing (with wipe-on oil),I would apply the oil, gently scrub the surface, and then wipe all oil off immediately. The very fine remaining orange dust comes off with the oil and the end piece is fairly bleed-free.
Then I’d do a proper oiling for final finish.
So yes I like padauk/maple but it’s a bit of a pain too 
EDIT: I’ve since found that a light touch with an orbital sander cleans this up about as well as anything
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I think this is the ‘finger on the spot’.
John 
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Oh my goodness!! The reverse swirl design with maple and padauk? Oh my goodness! So beautiful!
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This makes perfect sense. When you said meet face to face, I was thinking of the top face of the wood, not the the cut edge. Thanks!
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Wow, great stuff! Thanks for the inspiration!
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Ohhh myyyyy ::fans self::
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These are so great. Love the way you think, mashing up joinery and inlay. Also like that you gave yourself rules to your study.
Thanks for sharing!
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Thanks! I think guidelines are key to keeping yourself a bit focused. There are so many more things that could be done with this sort of technique but it keeps me from falling too far into the rabbit holes.
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That is so much fun and the result is spectacular! I love the swirl box. I need to spend more time with marketry style work. Really special.
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