Intarsia - the only way?

[Gill]

I've never tried intarsia and I'd love to have a go, but the cutting technique strikes me as being rather imprecise. Unless I'm mistaken, you have to cut each piece separately. To my mind, this introduces rather a large margin for a disparity of cuts between abutting sections.

When I've cut marquetry in the past, I've used a technique known as overlapping whereby one layer of veneer (the base) is left with a border of waste. The piece of veneer (the top) that will abut the base where the waste wood has been left is then temporarily adhered to the waste and both the top and base are cut simultaneously, producing a perfect match.

Is there any reason why this technique couldn't be adapted for use with intarsia?

Gill

[Plain_Ol_Ed]

My guess is you gonna get some yes's and some no's. So ... my answer is try it on a couple piece of scrap. Nothing to lose but a few minutes time and something to gain in an education. Of course, that's coming from a person who will try most anything at least once (usually once more than I should ).

[BobD (Archive)]

Right off, one of the problems I see is that most intarsia uses thicker wood that marquetry--one I'm working on now uses 5/4 or thicker wood--that's pretty thick to be cutting accurately on a scroll saw. If you were doing thinner intarsia, I can see that technique working...


One tip I've seen from Troy Lichardt is to "re-cut" your intarsia pieces by holding them together and cutting along the joint again wiht the scroll saw. This removes the high spots and lets you get a tighter fit!

Bob

[Gill]

Ed - according to Oscar Wilde, you should "try anything once except for incest and morris dancing".

Bob - That Troy Lichardt tip is very interesting and sounds like a variant of the technique used to correct ill-fitting miter joints. How does Mr Lichardt suggest you should hold the pieces together whilst cutting? If I was to rely on simply using my hands, I'd be worried that I might slip.

Gill

[BobD (Archive)]

Troy held them with his hands, but I would be tempted to use some sort of large gum (rubber) band or a band clamp myself...

Either that, or become excellent at following the line <grin>

Bob

[CanadianScroller]

I bet double sided carpet tape would work to hold them together

[3_M]

Here is a good site to find a lot about intarsia: http://www.intarsia.net/ Click on: http://www.intarsia.net/links.htm. You might find a lot of help from top intarsia people, like: Judy Gale Roberts and others.
You maybe could also ask on this forum: http://groups.msn.com/Intarsia

Mike M

[Old Mooner]

The technique you referred to--"overlapping"--will work, but an easier way is to cut one piece, trace the abutting edge on something (cardboard will do) to use as a template, and then cut around the template onto the next (abutting) piece. I find this works pretty well and you can then stack (overlap) the pieces and sand them together to get a closer fit if necessary. Just my two bits worth, or bob's worth before you guys went Euro. I came over there, learned how to divide by 12ths to get the correct change, and then everything changed. When are you gonna learn to drive on the other side?

Moon

[3_M]

Old Mooner,
Hope you don't mind me asking. How did you use Euros in the UK? I believe they are still with the pound, right Gill? I just can't wait till our dollar is getting stronger again.
Mike M

[Gill]

Hi Moon

That's another interesting approach for me to try - thanks .

Mike's right - we're sticking to pounds sterling for the foreseeable, although it's been a politically controversial subject over here for the last few years. There are good arguments both for and against the Euro but as long as the dollar continues to be weak I'll be happy either way. At least Mike'll sell more blades to Europeans .

As for driving on the wrong side of the road... being left handed and driving a manual motor car, that suits me just fine. Somebody once suggested we should change to driving on the right but there were worries that it wouldn't work. So somebody else suggested a three month long pilot scheme in which only red cars should be driven on the right hand side and the remainder should follow suit if the pilot was successful. Needless to say...



Gill

[CanadianScroller]

drive down the middle of the road and let everyone else worry.

As for the strength or weakness of currency, I recall a time so long ago when the Canadian Dollar was worth more than the American Dollar. I really doubt if I will see those days again. Just remember that there is always someone a little less fortunate than you no matter who you are.
Long live the barter system. A chicken is worth a chicken no matter what country you are in.