Project "Royal Entourage"

[Janette]

Can't wait to see the progression of this masterpiece! Looking great so far.

[workin for wood]

For those looking to get into intarsia, I recommend the Jet spindle sander. Any spindle sander is fine, but for intarsia, you'll really appreciate the Jet for it's 1/4" spindle. I use the spindle sander almost as much as I do the scroll saw, they are like a married couple. Just what's going on here....

1st up, a piece is traced using carbon paper and then it is cut out with the scroll saw.

Next the cut piece is rubbed back and forth on some sandpaper. I use this belt sander, with the sander off. The rubbing is to remove any burrs off the bottom of the cut piece, this is very important.

A sacrificial/zero clearance table is installed on top of the spindle sander. Basically this is just a piece of plywood clamped on and there is no space between the spindle sleeve and the plywood. Only necessary for dealing with small pieces of course.

The edges are now gently sanded and inspected. At times in hard woods, or due to poor cutting technique, perhaps a dull blade...the edges are not square, especially in a sharp curve. The spindle sander is used to repair these edges. See in one of the pics, the edge is square, but it is still gently sanded to smooth it up. The spindle can be used to manipulate the piece as well to obtain a better fit. Perhaps you have two pieces that fit side by side and the ends are supposed to be flush but are not. Tape the two pieces together and sand them flush with the spindle. A regular sander will not do, the spindle sander keeps the edges square with the bottom of each piece.

All pieces are taped together top and bottom and then the next piece is traced in using a combination of the already assembled pieces and the pattern. This keeps me on track with the pattern while maintaining a nice fit.

[workin for wood]

Two most important things with intarsia are organization and planning. It is difficult to explain them all exactly, but hopefully by the time this project is through they will become clear. It isn't important how big or complicated your project, you have to have a plan of attack and a way to keep things organized.

In this project, the plan at the moment is to complete all surrounding pieces around the big red flower. The flower will have a jack piece, or possibly more than one, cut and glued under it in order to raise it's height. It is the highest piece in the entire picture. A jack piece is just a piece of plywood cut to fit under the finished pieces. The jack piece may not be a perfect fit. Because of that, tracing new parts to fit perfectly would be too challenging. Therefore, the solution is to cut all the surrounding pieces and keep them taped together, and then cut the jack pieces last. When the flower is raised to the proper height, the surrounding pieces can then be shaped to match what their own heights will be.

Cutting pieces themselves requires planning too. Every piece is sure to be different than the last. Here is an example of planning your cuts.

pic1...the bottom left is cut and then you see a new cut being made to relieve that scrap piece from the wood. This opens up the entry to more lines to be cut.

pic 2...entering at the top, the blade goes to the center of the circle and down into the point. Starting at that outer middle point means that the cut lines can be repaired later on the spindle sander should then not be perfect. The spindle can't reach into the deep point, but can reach the outer circle.

pic3...another relief is cut to open up the blade which is now able to cut the other half of the circle.

pic4...the outer circle is now able to be removed. Then the final cut is made.

All these are organized to keep the piece intact with the main board for as long as possible. This is the easiest and safest way to do those cuts, in my opinion.

[Rolf]

Thanks Jeff.
I really enjoy your step by step presentations.
And you are absolutly right about the Jet spindle sander, I love it.

[Back2Jake]

You're doing a wonderful job on illustrating this process. I'm sure you're helping a number of folks who want to start intarsia understand the techniques involved.

Happy Holidays Jeff.
Toni

[workin for wood]

Yes, thank you for the comments...

Slowly working through one flower at a time and then the arrow and instrument piece. All the pieces are taped together into the center flower as I go. It's important not to go so far that things can't stay together, just make everything happen in stages to stay organized. These are all the large pieces that touch the flower which needs to be jacked up higher. There are still a couple very small pieces, but because they barely touch, they can be dealt with at a later time and will be easily sanded to make a perfect fit.

The tape is removed and each cluster is carefully set aside. The center piece flower is traced onto some 1/4" plywood. Note the x's and arrow marks. These are the locations that will remain exposed. Because they are exposed, they need to be cut to fit the flower as exactly as possible. The other area's can be cut slightly to the inside as they will not be seen. I do not like to be able to see plywood risers at all and try to make a design so that they will be completely invisible. In this case, it's impossible, but with the flower being at the top of the picture, it will be almost invisible anyhow, especially with the visible area being so small. Once the riser is cut, it is glued and clamped to the bottom of the flower.

During the drying time, I continue with cutting a few other pieces elsewhere in the picture that are also going to be inlaid into the music pages.

Once dry, the shaping begins. Just one flower at a time is best, so pieces don't get lost or misplaced. 1st I do a rough shaping, scribing each piece to the next piece to determine their proper heights.

[workin for wood]

With the rough shaping finished, it's time to bevel the edges. This is done with quick passes over the belt sander or with small tighter to reach area's by using the 1/4" spindle. I often use rotary tools as well in even tighter areas, or to create curves that can't be accomplished on the belt sander.

The beveled edges and the pieces themselves are now hand sanded to 150 grit. This is plenty. I often use 100 at first then shoot up to 150 next. In the end the picture will be run over with a 320 flap sander. Small pieces are uncomfortable on the fingers to hold onto. If the piece is very fragile, you have no choice, but if it is not a fragile piece, it can be held using a spring clamp while hand sanding.

Next the pieces are all glued together with wood glue. Just a few small drops close to the bottom of the edges is good enough to keep it all held together. you don't want to be too generous that glue squeezes out all over the place and make a big mess.

Some times, flowers can be "gang" sanded. This is a simple matter of taping the bottom and wrapping a strip around the outside edge and then sanding the entire flower to rough shape. pic 4 is done in this manner. It is all sanded similar to a ball. Then each piece is removed. Each layer up from the bottom is beveled back drastically to give the flower an almost open cluster look.

These flowers are all glued together now, but notice the feathers/arrow and music instrument is not. It is set to the side and not shaped. There is still another flower and a few leaves that need to be added to this section and then it can be traced into the music pages. Then another riser piece of plywood may be needed to raise all the flowers even higher, but that can't be known at this time.

[Trout]

it's looking good...

Trout

[thecopperfish]

Great job Jeff, I'm looking forward to more!
Chris

[minowevie]

Gosh Jeff, that is so beautifull. you are the man. thats for Sure. wonderfull work, and knoledg.