Some great ideas there!
4 Likes
That is fantastic.
My favorite is this one:
Padauk/yellowheart. Half depth finger, finished with “studs” of yellowheart.
Although I’m not sure if the half fingers will substantially affect the strength of the joint.
Thanks for sharing.
4 Likes
Clearly you’ve got the “design” part down. These are really beautiful! 
I’m curious about the actual joinery side of some of these though. I mean, that’s the whole point of joints, right? I have to imagine that some of these might not do the job of joining as well as others. Did you find that to be the case or are they all as snug as you’d like?
7 Likes
Thanks! This is definitely one of my favorites too. A weird optical illusion happens in person, it looks dovetailed a little. It might be due to the v-shaped laser cut, I can’t decide.
As for strength, I did a pretty thorough glue up of all the pieces, all surfaces are pretty well adhered. I can’t imagine it adds any strength to the joint compared to a traditional joint, but I also doubt it significantly reduces it.
In the end, we’re talking about 1/8" wood, so there’s kind of an upper limit to strength.
I think the weakest one is probably a tie between the maple layered butt joint and the woven inlay.
I suppose the thing to do is setup a complicated stress measuring scale puller thingy and yank them all apart and see which breaks first 
Anyone got Adam Savage’s number? I bet @dan does…
9 Likes
I think a lot of it comes down to your patience. Kerf adjustment is key. Take the walnut checkerboard… I didn’t adjust it and you can see tiny gaps in all the checker squares. I considered recutting it and doing it again, but decided nah we get the idea, and will leave the production perfection to the end user. Let’s put it this way: if I were giving this as a gift, I’d have recut it to get it perfect.
There’s a balancing act between ease of assembly/glue up and perfect tight fits. All depends on what you need.
I find that the wood tends to compress to fit a tight kerf-adjusted slot really well and can make an apparently seamless joint. After that it’s down to your glue and how well it adheres to lased surfaces versus bare wood. They all feel pretty sturdy, though. If you made a box of it with a third side to stabilize the L joint, they’ll probably be about as strong as a traditional finger joint.
5 Likes
I enjoyed seeing all of the different ways that you made your joints. I enjoy using all of the types of exotic woods that you chose. Did you have trouble cutting through the different types of wood? I tried to cut through Sapele without any success. 
4 Likes
Yeah sapele is a bear. Rosewoods in general are tough. Bocote also gave me hell, and Ipe.
Walnut is a piece of cake. Mahogany and padauk and yellowheart are a bit tougher but about the same.
Of course, this all depends on the exact thickness you have and specifics of your planks. Wood’s super analog. The good news is that it’s pretty consistent, I got them all pretty well dialed in to cut with almost no flashback. I didn’t mask any of this, just quickly sanded to 600 grit and hit with a light coat of feed n wax.
6 Likes
Do it! (and post pics 
)
2 Likes
Yes! If you can’t hide it - Highlight it.
The different thickness fingers, the clover leaf, and the checkerboard are my favorite.
Very nice work there, thanks for the inspiration!
2 Likes
Absolutely awesome design work. I like the club cut outs best.
3 Likes
I see you at the bottom of the rabbit hole, shining a light out for us, to help us see the way !
John 
9 Likes
Pieces look Great! Without someone giving the scale one would guess they were 1/2" inch thick wood. It looks to me like in 1/8" wood they would all be very fiddly, In looking about there are so many inlay patterns that emulate various finger joints. They could well be additional inspiration for ideas for real ones.
At first, I wanted to hide them by not cutting all the way through but after seeing the added strength of small fingers I have made little else.2mm fingers may become boring but I am not there yet.
EDIT: some confusion due to tablet typing
3 Likes
This:
That:
1 Like
Outstanding joinery!
3 Likes
These are amazing!!
4 Likes
Excellent. I’ve been too lazy to explore (read - still too busy at work).
Thanks for the inspiration!
4 Likes
Wow, you’ve been busy! Those are some great creative ideas for joints. Everytime I’d scroll down, I found a new favorite and then I’d scroll and, no this one! Then I’d scroll…
Very inspiring!
5 Likes
This is one of the best things I’ve seen on the forum. Wood confuses and frightens me, I’d never come up with this.
5 Likes
These are some very creative variations! (Particularly like the clubs and the dots.) 
4 Likes
I believe in you! Go get yourself some inexpensive north american species (assuming you are in the US) like maple and walnut and just try it out. It’s really very easy to work with.
Plywood is even easier. I did all these in hardwoods, but birch ply is very stable and easy to work with too… Here’s a nice starter set to make some trays or whatever comes to mind:
You could make a dice or valet tray easily with those boards. Like so:
and
5 Likes