First real sign with inlay

[Steve knight]

So far most of them I have made have been demos and practice. This was the first solid one made from poplar to keep the cost down. It is 24x24 and v carved and the plane in the middle is an inlay of ipe. It needs a final sanding and another coat of finish. My test inlay work ok though it was too tight. The sign one was tight though I thought I got it in. but it must have lifted up as when I flattened it I went right through it. So I remilled the pocket and offset a bit. I don’t know if v carve will let you offset in the negative so I set the bit for a .076 when it is a .078 still a bit tight in places but better. I like the v carved inlay better but on such a big piece I would have had to do the middle inlay then glue up the boards so I thought of going this way.
Got to watch poplar I was planning on flattening the top a bit to flush the inlay and remove the black paint. I just used latex and it sucked through the pores. I got some bleed through under the surface. The more I took off the worse it was. So I guess if I do this with poplar again I better seal the letters fist. I thought the latex would be thick enough. But I forgot I watered it down a bit so it would not dry as fast.
http://www.knight-toolworks.com/cnc/johns%20finished%20sign.jpg

[Frank Corker]

Great job Steve, thank looks very nice, John will be happy!

[Steve knight]

I leaned that poplar leaked pretty badly the more surface I took off the more bleeding there was. I woudl ahve sealed the letters first but I had to plane the surface down to level the inlay so I did not.
but for the inlay it was pretty easy. but the inlay makes it cool.