Timberdan

Got the ideas from Kathy Wise intarsia birds book. Thanks for the comments

Made 3 pairs of male and female fridge magnets for Mothers Day gifts . The female is cut from black cherry and the male is cut from bloodwood. The mask on both are cut from black ebony and the beaks are cut from paduk. I used a plastic backer on them. Used Old Masters gel stain natural to finish.

That's exactly what I do on all my fretwork projects. Im picking up a nice live edge slab of White Ash tomorrow that is planed to 1/2 inch and kiln dried . Can't wait to get started on cutting it out . Thanks for the feedback

Thanks for the reply . I usually go no thinner than 1/2 " for all my fretwork projects so i guess what you are saying is to get kiln dried wood for starters. I guess I have to find an honest broker that sells live edge wood. BTW I always use natural hardwood for all my cutouts and I use baltic birch as a backer. I can get white pine but I find it breaks easily especially for advanced fretwork projects that I have made so that's why I stick to using hardwood because its much stronger and it soaks the tung oil finish extremely well that I use for a finish on most of my fretwork pieces.

I have a brown trout pattern that I want to scroll onto a piece of live edge wood and I was wondering how thin I could possibly get away with without much warping. I also want to know what type of hardwood is less prone to warpage . I was looking at some past posts and the one that interested me the most was an eagle fretwork piece that looks like it was cut into a live edge slab of white ash and the post was dated October 10 2018 by KMMCRAFTS . Beautiful looking piece I may add I was wondering how thick of piece of slab wood the eagle was cut into . The pattern that I have is 22" long by 13 1/2" wide . Any feedback would be appreciated Thanks Dan

Thanks again to all the great feedback . Hey Scrappile I had the same kind of issues with a lab setter cross and found a good home on a farm with a pond and a couple of young kids. The dog loved water and she lived out the rest of her days on the farm no regrets either. One thing I forgot to mention about the project is that I finally found Old Masters gel stain in natural and I just love the finnish that it produced and it's easy to apply and wipe .

Just finished a JGR chocolate lab pattern for my niece who has one . The whole pattern is made from various shades of black walnut and the eyes are made from yellow heart and a maple dowel that I dyed with analine dye powder to get the proper dark brown that I wanted for the pupils. The original pattern uses the wonder wheel to etch the wood but I like to use the wood grain instead to get the same effect. I just retired last year so Im starting to get back into the intarsia and fretwork again after I rebuilt my EX- 21 last year. The saw works great again and a pleasure to cut with. Thanks for viewing.

After you paint your wreath use marine varnish for the wood to last outside. I made a cottage sign for a buddy and that's what I used as a finish on the BC fir that the sign was made of and its still looking good after 5 years.

I agree with Scrappile on the blade selection #5 or #7 and may I also add that if you are cutting any hardwood use packing tape on top of the pattern so that you don't burn the wood as you are cutting it lubricates the blade as you cut. If you have to force the cut pull back and change the blade to a new one they are cheaper than scrap wood and makes cutting more relaxing . Good Luck!

Sorry about that Scrappile . I was trying to be polite. Good luck on the cutting BTW. Im sure it will be as good as all the other work I've seen in the past from you. I like the new pattern too.

Mr Scrappile. I have done lots of intarsia bird projects over the years and I learned from following Kathy Wise books that I have purchased over the years. I would cut out each feather individually and sand shape each piece for a more 3D effect but start with 3/4 " to 5/8 " thick wood and sand it down from there so you have something to work with. I have a drum sander that works well for this purpose and a good vacuum system for the dust. If you have a chance to pick up Kathy Wise Intarsia Birds pattern book its well worth the money she goes into great detail on cutting feathers to making eyes and sanding details that would better be explained by her than what I can tell you but I have used her patterns in the past and they are all excellent . Im still trying to get the nerve up to try and do the wild turkey intarsia pattern just not quite there yet but it's on the list. Hope this helps.

I love cutting out owls #1 walnut all the way for me Frank .Very nice work indeed. Cutting out the sharp corners may take a bit longer to do but the final results sure worth the extra effort IMHO.

Thanks for all the comments I owe a lot to my rebuild of my EX-21 saw. It's way more enjoyable to cut with now that im not fighting with it. A new drive assembly and 2 new rocker arms set me back quite a bit but I have a new saw again and im looking forward to getting back into cutting out more projects now that im home again. I have a few ideas for a new Kathy Wise tree frog pattern I have come up with. Ive made a few in the past but this one was inspired by a poison dart frog intarsia project I saw a few years ago and I just picked up some purple heart wood to get it going soon. I also have a brown trout fretwork pattern that I am also dying to start I just got a nice piece of black cherry to glue up its 24" x 14" wide. Thanks again for all the positive feedback .

Forgot to mention that I used tung oil as a wood finish

Just thanking The Razz for his portrait that I downloaded for my wife's birthday present of the Rolling Stones. I hope that I did it justice. I used 1/2 " black cherry as my wood with routered frame edges as I usually do on a lot of my fretwork projects. I used FDUR #3 and # 1 blades and a #3 new spiral blade for smoothing out the letters.