Special Gift Plaque

[George M. Perzel]

Hi;
A customer of mine wanted a very special gift for her mother who had given her terrific support during a tough year. She came up with the following quote which we inlaid in a maple plaque with walnut letters and walnut/cherry trim.

Far simpler than you may think and very profitable.
George

[Mike Null]

George:

That looks great! How long did it take?

[George M. Perzel]

Hi Mike;
About 40 minutes of laser time and an hour of shop time.-$200
George

[Mike Null]

George:

That's super--good for you!

[Bob Yeager]

THAT is just way toooo coool!! I don't have a laser yet...but this kind of work really intriques me! Thanks for sharing.

Bob

[Leigh Costello]

Holy Cow! That looks great. I only need a bit more time to learn how to create inlays. That is so pretty.
Leigh

[Karin Voorhis]

George,

I must say what a great piece of work that should be proudly added to your portfolia of work. very nice.

The inlay is set into the letters that are cut deeper????? how long did it take to put it together??? I am guesing the laser time was a total to cut the letters and the wood seperate. Then you put it together yes????

[George M. Perzel]

Hi Karin;
Yep- you got it basically right. The first step is to pick a font in which the individual letters can weld together easily. I use Creampuff which doesn't weld totally without some adjustments. For the letter "i", I convert it to curves, break the curves, and drop the dot in the "i" to touch the bottom part. The idea of welding the letters to form words obviously makes it easier to handle and inlay.
I raster the plaque to a depth of about 1/16" and then use the same text with hairline outline and no fill to cut the words out of 1/8" material-always do a bunch of extra commas, colons, etc as they seem to get lost.
After rastering I use a little brass wire brush to clean up the debris. I use UHU craft glue to inlay the words-brush it liberally within each cavity. Then, with a small, flat headed hammer, tap each word into place- I do about 3 at a time. This is similar to the hammer inlaying technique used in ancient metalworking and jewelry making- the material is forced to expand into the cavity and eliminates the kerf.
Do not use a water based glue such as Elmers as the wood letters will swell and tend to pop out of the cavities.
I inlayed this plaque in two 15 minute sessions. After each session I covered the area just completed with wax paper and a 1/4" steel plate clamped down-dries hard in about 2 hours.
After all the inlay in dry and hardened I run the plaque through by drim sander in a couple of very light passes-enough until I reach the surface of the plaque in any one spot-then finish it with a couple of fine grits in the ROS and then fine sand by hand with 320 paper. I finish with rub on Poly and wax.
Discussion/prep time -about 15 minutes.
Layout time-20 minutes-mostly welding text
Raster time- about 30 minutes, vector time about 10 minutes
Inlay time -about 40 minutes, finish about 20 minutes

Here's a little better pic.

[Karin Voorhis]

George,

Wow that is amazing thatnk you so much for such detailed answer....

I am thinking reading it sounds very simple but doing is going to take a lot of practice.

Also I have another question you would not happen to be the artist/wood worker from within Artisans in Rochester are you????? Built the all wood motorcycle, Padlock, and Zipo in the main lobby?

[George M. Perzel]

Hi Karin;
I'm very familiar with the items in Artisans which you mentioned and have been there many times, but I'm not the artist-awesome, fun work-incredible talent and woodworking skills.
Where are you located?
Best regards;
George
LaserArts

[Karin Voorhis]

Hi Karin;
I'm very familiar with the items in Artisans which you mentioned and have been there many times, but I'm not the artist-awesome, fun work-incredible talent and woodworking skills.
Where are you located?
Best regards;
George
LaserArts

I am from Angola South of Buffalo, ny not far from you.

Artisans is my all time favorite hide away. I love the place and I would say he is my fav. artist/wood worker. ANy time you go feel free to drop a note always looking for a reason to go out and go there.

[Michael Kowalczyk]

George,
Thank you for the in depth detail of your inlay procedure. I will definitely give it a try. I have been collecting veneers every time I go to a woodworking show and just waiting for the op to try one. I appreciate your post.

Thank you,

[George M. Perzel]

Hi Michael;
Be very careful with normal veneers-they are too thin for easy inlaying. I'm not saying it can't be done, but they are cutting veneers at 1/42" today and that doesn't leave much margin. I generally cut my own on the bandsaw-inlay material is narrow and cheaply abundant on Ebay and the web,
Laser cut veneers are very delicate and break easily -tough to keep parts together and keep track.
Good luck and holler if you need help.
George