CELTIC SHARK, INLAID WOOD BOX POST II

CELTIC SHARK, INLAID WOOD BOX POST II

It’s too nice a day to have a bad day, coming to the end of winter, weathers perfect, the air is fresh with no wind, the last four weeks have been freezing, 11 to 25 degrees Celsius, maybe not so cold.

Today I hope to get started on cutting the inlay pieces and gluing them in. Yesterday I finished the planning and gluing the plans to the veneer.

First thing to do is find a starting point; I’m starting with the tail.

I have chosen some very old Australian Red Cedar, for the shark inlay. This wood was given to me by an old gentleman, at our local market, he told me it was part of his great grandfather’s collection, and was cut down at least 150 years ago, but probably closer to 200 years. I choose to believe his story. I affix this behind the pattern piece, I then cut around the section with my homemade hand operated scroll saw. I do have an electric scroll saw, but prefer to use hand tools, besides it’s more accurate.

I separate the two layers, putting the top piece aside, and glue the inlay piece (cedar) into the veneer, allow to dry.

I take the cutout, remove the pattern, then place this behind the new inlay section and securely affix with some painters tape. Then with the removed pattern I stick it back into position and cut out the inside of the tail and glue into position.

After the glue has dried, using a scraper level the back of the panel.

I then just continue, one inlay at a time.

That is the end of Today, nearly finished all the inlays, only four to go.

Hope tomorrow is as productive as today.