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General Category => Intarsia => Topic started by: wdkits1 on September 01, 2012, 07:52:11 pm

Title: THE Nitty Gritty
Post by: wdkits1 on September 01, 2012, 07:52:11 pm
OK, that might seem like a strange title for a work in progress but I think after you see this project you"ll understand the reason. I've been doing Intarsia for a long time and pride myself in putting lots of detail into my pieces by using only natural colored wood, detail carving and using lots of itty bitty pieces to add as much realism as I can to my work.
Last week I was asked to make some custom Beer Tap Handles for a guy here in town that has his own home brewery. He sent me a photo of the logo that he has and asked if I could carve or etch the logo onto the handle somehow.

Picture of logo
(http://i712.photobucket.com/albums/ww126/wdkits1/RabidOtterBreweryLogo.jpg)


Don't do much carving or etching I said but I do Intarsia which is a unique type of woodworking that might be something you'd like to see. Invited him to the shop to see some of my work. We discussed pricing, woods, sizes and I was given the go-ahead to get em done as an intarsia. Talk about a challenge!!! Like I said, I like working with small pieces but I gotta tell you , I might have bitten off more than I can chew with this project.
Just to give an idea of the size of these things, the total width of the logo is 4 1/4" so keeping the scale correct means that the inlay has to be contained in a 3 " circle. So the letters are less than 1/4" tall. :o I've cut some pretty small pieces before but to cut and fit letters this small and inlay them into a background--well that's just getting down to the nitty gritty part of this type of work.

That little black spec is the letter "E"
(http://i712.photobucket.com/albums/ww126/wdkits1/RabidOtter005.jpg)


So after a little trial and error (LOTS) and learning a few new cutting and sanding techniques here is the first of 4 Rabid Otter logo's. Still have to turn the handle and glue everything in but I do like a challenge.

(http://i712.photobucket.com/albums/ww126/wdkits1/RabidOtter008.jpg?t=1346537273)
Title: Re: THE Nitty Gritty
Post by: julief on September 02, 2012, 07:18:49 am
Wow!!!  I think I would have passed on it just because of the size!  Sure glad you didn't!  Great job.
Title: Re: THE Nitty Gritty
Post by: marmoh on September 02, 2012, 09:17:23 am
Now that is very impressive.  You must have great eyes and very nimble
fingers !!!!!!    Marion
Title: Re: THE Nitty Gritty
Post by: newfie on September 02, 2012, 10:37:31 am
great work Mike thanks for sharing
Title: Re: THE Nitty Gritty
Post by: TripleB on September 02, 2012, 10:57:43 am
That is some precision work there Mike! Great Job!
Title: Re: THE Nitty Gritty
Post by: Keefie on September 02, 2012, 05:29:33 pm
that is fantastic work, just awesome
Title: Re: THE Nitty Gritty
Post by: Intarsia92 on September 03, 2012, 08:44:52 am
Great job Mike, I'm sure he'll like it.
Title: Re: THE Nitty Gritty
Post by: Russ C on September 03, 2012, 09:32:48 am
Looks awesome, great job!  :)
Title: Re: THE Nitty Gritty
Post by: troy_curtis on September 05, 2012, 12:33:53 am
That is amazing. Would love to see how you go about making something so detailed and so small. I know I have a long long way to go to even begin to be good at this kind of art. You do inspire me that someday I might be half as good. Thanks for sharing.
Title: Re: THE Nitty Gritty
Post by: wdkits1 on September 05, 2012, 08:45:25 am
Thanks for the comments guys

I worked on the handle this weekend and it met with the owners approval so will now continue on the next three  tap handles.

 I wont glue anything together until all 4 handles are complete to insure that everything is the same for a matched set. Plus now i get to build the pedestal that the taps are attached to. This just gets better and better.
(http://i712.photobucket.com/albums/ww126/wdkits1/RabidOtter012.jpg)
Title: Re: THE Nitty Gritty
Post by: slowcutter on September 05, 2012, 10:18:49 am
Fantastic work.
Do you have to put that on both sides of the handle?
Thanks for sharing.
Title: Re: THE Nitty Gritty
Post by: wombatie on September 09, 2012, 03:14:43 am
That was some challenge.  You did an excellent job, well done.

Marg
Title: Re: THE Nitty Gritty
Post by: mickey357 on January 16, 2013, 01:06:57 am
Very nice work !!~!!
Title: Re: THE Nitty Gritty
Post by: Marcellarius on January 19, 2013, 03:33:11 am
WOW, amazing work. like it very much!
Title: Re: THE Nitty Gritty
Post by: multifasited on February 15, 2013, 11:03:24 pm
Extreamly well done ,I do have to ask,whats the price of something like that ,and how much time you have to spend doing such delicate precise work ?
Title: Re: THE Nitty Gritty
Post by: EIEIO on February 16, 2013, 10:29:22 am
Slick work. Now that you've got a technique, would you consider making a video with the next 3 tap handles? Cutting those tiny letters must take some special methods that I'd like to see.