First Intarsia

[Neal Moore]

I did my first Intarsia piece this weekend. Betty's Niece is having a baby and is decorating the room in a Teddy Bear theme. I cut the little Bow Tie Bear pattern but just used 3/4 inch poplar and stained the segments. Had to hand sand all the roundovers because my rotary tool is out at the camper. Talk about labor intensive!!! My hands are still cramping!! I found that I like doing intarsia and my next tool purchase will be a drum sander. This piece is pretty sloppy but I learned a lot through trial and error. I'll post a picture after the finish dries and I get it glued to the backer. Now I know why folks generally don't stain intarsia segments. The exposed end grain on the roundovers on the poplar doesn't absorb stain at the same rate as the face and the color difference is very noticable. I'm going to try to convert a couple patterns from the book into intarsia and cut them from different woods. I think I'm gonna like this once I get get the process down pat!!!

[Neal Moore]

Bow Tie Bear

Here it is (I think!!!) I'm not thrilled with the results but I hope they get better as I do more.

[Minnesota scroller]

Neal, I think it looks stupendous. Unless the photograph is hiding something. Remember what's been said before, we are our own worst critic.

[Gill]

It looks pretty good to me, Neal, especially for a first attempt . I must confess I lack the courage to try intarsia because it looks sooo difficult; anyone who's prepared to give it a bash deserves all the support and encouragement they can get .

Speaking with my segmentation hat on, I find rounding over the edges can be a very time consuming affair but it's always worthwhile. I think the amount of sanding that goes into a segmentation or intarsia project is often the difference between a good result and an outstanding one.

Gill

[gmackay]

Neal,

Great looking intarsia project!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have done some intarsia projects when I get tired of making boxes, and have used mixed hardwoods. I like to use Bartley Gel Varnish for the finish on those projects and have also run into problems with the end grain accepting more stain (darker) than the surrounding wood. Gel Varnish doesn't seem to do that as much as stain.

WE are our own worst critic when it comes to our projects so stop

Gary MacKay

[ozarkhillbilly]

Neal, it looks like a winner to me, I admire all intarsia work and my hats off to you for giving it a try.....and with great results I might add!

Perhaps one of these days I'll get up the courage and the ambition to give intarsia a try

[lucky788scroller]

yup, looks good to me Neal!!! dale

[sheltiecarver]

Looks good to me too, Neal.
Your recipient(s) will be delighted.
Are those pink -y parts just mahogany stain? At this distance, I don't see your end-grain problems, but you have seen it up close and personal. Probably a lot of that is down in the intersections, so nobody else will see them. I agree with Gary - those gel finishes ate so nice to work with, but sometimes I just get lazy or in a hurry, and dip stuff in the stain in an aluminum pan. I suppose time and effort are not always a good trade-off for perfection.
Sandy

[Taffy Turner]

Neil,

I think you are being a little hard on yourself - that looks absolutely awesome to me.

A handy tip that I was given to stop end grain absorbing more dye is to sand it finer. For example if you sanded to 400 grit on most of the piece, sand to 800 grit on the end grain, that way the colour should be more even.

I must admit I haven't done any intarisa, but I use this trick a lot in general woodworking whenever any staining is required, and it works very well.

Regards

Gary

[jimp11]

looks good Neal the bears are fun to do but right sanding tools helpe a lot . but keep at it it will take you over.

[Jediscroller]

Neal,
Looks great to me! For those of us that do the occasional intarsia piece I found inflateable drum sanders that mount to the drill press at Woodcraft. They work great if you don't have the need or the means for a full blown dedicated drum sander.

[Daryl185]

Neal theres absolutely nothing wrong with your first attempt it looks great to me you keep this up and Trouts gona have a running mate heheh

[Charlie_1]

Excellent work Neal

[Marcel in Longueuil]

Hi Neal,

My wife went all googely over it "Ohhhhhh he's so cute" so I guess you did good.

And the reason she saw it was because I asked her if she wanted to see something cute, so I know you did good

The tip on sanding the end grain finer is good and it works, another tip is to use a "washcoat" consisting of one coat from a 1/2 pound cut of shellac applied before staining.

Regards,
Marcel

[Dusty Buffalo]

Looks great Neal.

I find that the sanding is my favorite part of intarsia. For some reason sanding tends to relax me.

Of course, hand sanding is something completely different and I try to avoid that. I've got all sorts of tools for that. Why in the world would I hand sand anything.

It's crazy I know, but it fits.