I will begin this stage of the intarsia process by resawing the wood that will become the background for the box lid. I am using Lacewood that will be bookmatched cut to 3/16”


After the resawing is done I have cut the bookmatched pieces to length and have placed them on the wokbench and beltsand them to remove saw marks. I like to set the pieces on a piece of 60 grit sandpaper to help hold them still while I sand them with the sander....

I will start by creating the scaled background for the intarsia pattern. Using Word office 2007 I did the 6” x 8” pattern sheet that fits into the top recess of the box lid and put the oval 1/2 ” from the edges.


These are the subject photos that I will use for the intarsia. The first pic is from Buffalo Jack’s ranch in NC.






This is the first draft...

In my first installment I showed the steps to cut and prep the stock for the custom keepsake box.
This installment shows the steps to glue -up the box and cut the lid.
I begin by gluing in the accent strips on all of the box sides. I am using Holly strips that I sized 1/4" wide by 1/8" thick

I use CA glue and tap them in place.


Once the glue has set up I use a small flex-blade saw to trim the ends...

I will begin this WIP series with a little history. I have been creating Intarsia since 1992 after reading an article in Wood magazine by Judy Gayle Roberts about how to do this beautiful woodworking artform. After doing a couple of her patterns, I started creating my own Intarsia patterns and began collecting many different woods to use in my art. Learning about the wide selection of natural colors and grains of the various woods and being able to incorporate them into my pieces is still the...

where the buffalos roam.

My wife's cousin owns a buffalo ranch in North Carolina. Every year all of the buffalo ranchers hold different events around the country. Big hoop te do affairs where they have cooking competitions, lots of story telling, different auctions and a good time for all that attend.This year Buffalo Jack( my wife's cousin) asked if I could come up with a keepsake box that he could put up for auction at a couple of events. After discussing the costs I decided that...