stone inlays

[vinnie_chip]

Hi, has anyone got any experience on here doing gemstone inlays in wood? I Could really do with picking your brain... #-o

 

[woodaxed]

this may help im still experimenting myself with gem inlays but in boxes not turned work but seems to work the same way

http://stephenhatcher.com/files/inlay.pdf

 

[vinnie_chip]

Thanks, the work I want to do is on a table top and will involve some inlay and a large area that I want to fill with tigers eye and epoxy.. I will try and upload an image

 

[vinnie_chip]

Obviously I haven't joined the boards together in this image but you can see the areas I want to fill...

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I was thinking of doing the same thing on a smaller scale. I was going to machine a rebate in the back, and fuse some coloured and some dichroic glass to inset, then cut a piece of float glass to sit on the top side to level the surface. (I've a kiln and a diamond grinder.) How do you propose to polish the epoxy and stone? I'd have thought you'd need to finish with a two part plastic or epoxy finish, otherwise you'd never polish three disparate materials?

 

[woodaxed]

you have got my artistic juices flowing i think tigers eye would be perfect the only other thing i can think of would be gold leafing and that is very expensive and a pain to work with ive used gold leaf on small sculpted boxes and has worked out well , that aside i think your going to have to experiment with offcuts till you get what your looking for even if it takes some time to perfect it.
I did see your mirror in the showcase a while ago and thought it one of the best uses of burr.
Would be interested to see wip or your test work

and goodluck i like the idea

 

[vinnie_chip]

Hi Phil, this has been one of my biggest head scratching projects..'how to finish the epoxy, stones and wood' ](*,) I know im not doing myself any favours wanting to use tigers eye as it has a hardness of 7 on the MOH scale.. in fact Ive got a head ache just thinking about it now.. my plan is to fill any of the small voids with different sized stones so they only just protrude the surface then pour the epoxy over them, then, once set sand over them with different grades up to 600 grit, then polish. In the centre of the table where the large infill is I will do the same but using larger stones aswell.. i think the only finish i will be able to use is a 2 part poly or epoxy resin.. Woodaxed, thanks for your comment on my mirror, this table top is from the same cut of the tree. the reason i want to use tigers eye is for the colours and lustre they have (I'm hoping i can create the same lustre as tumbled stones once ive finished) i will defo be practising on offcuts first. :wink:

 

[vinnie_chip]

This is roughly what it will look like...

 

[vinnie_chip]

Bookmatched legs...

 

[vinnie_chip]

I am also open to any suggestions anyone has...

 

[Phil Pascoe]

:idea: If you could get a lapidarist to slice your tigers eye to a uniform thickness, put a coloured epoxy base in, judging the thickness so that the stone when inserted would finish just below the surface of the wood, then flood the stone with two part. Your stone then would be slightly below the level of the epoxy and the wood - you wouldn't have the hardness of the stone to contend with when polishing. The colour of the base resin should show through the clear finish coat - you could try a bit of gold leaf in the smaller gaps between the tigers eye? :idea:

 

[vinnie_chip]

Liking the sound of that Phil.. Dont suppose you know of any lapidarists in the northants area? :-k

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I spoke to a friend and he thought that you might be better starting from the top with glass (for better refraction),fixing the stone under it and then resin. If you followed that path, you could back light it with led's if the resin were translucent. ...sorry!