Wood veneer inlay on brass panel - suggestions?

[dbb-the-bruce]

A study with more experiments. I'm really happy with how this is turning out. So far no major problems and the process seems adaptable enough that I can have some fun with it.

This piece is about 1/3 of the actual panel I'm going to make next. Even the full panel is still work to learn on. The inspiration is from a map with gold boarder and markings that I saw in a book of about a 1650 navigation manuscript. (I'll post more details later if people are interested).

From my wood art experiences, I recall seeing people use spalted wood and present it as a map / map like. The piece of wood in this test is very boring, the actual one I'm going to use is much more map like.

The step forward with this trial was to add engraving and color fill for the engraving. The numbers are filled with red epoxy and the lines with India ink. The lines are quite good (only about .01 or less in width). I did screw up and cut them all in only one direction which leaves one side less clean than the other (climb cut vs. normal cut). Final passes in both directions come out cleaner (did that on the prior test).

Here are the shots:


Quarter is for reference size, about 1.2 X 2.4

Really having fun with this and excited about it!
-Dave

 

[dbb-the-bruce]

Here is the inspiration from the manuscript book:



I LOVE this kind of stuff. Lots of great ideas for design in this book.

 

[guero_gordo]

So first attempts came out pretty good.

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Tiles are both 1.5" square. I used DEFT gloss spray lacquer. It seems to want to orange peal on the brass pretty easily, although it's pretty fine. I didn't make any attempt to get high gloss. I'll take a swipe or two on 800 grit and hit it again supper light and see how it goes. I've got a lot of experience with this lacquer on wood and I got to say it love/hate. I really don't want to go for supper-gloss mirror finish on the wood. I want the contrast with the brass. The brass wants to be shiny and needs a coat to keep it from tarnishing. Will see how these two age.

The System 3 clear coat worked just fine. I don't think there is much chance of veneer every popping out. I may try to force temperature and humidity cycles on these test pieces - but not sure how I'd do that. The final work is expected to be something you'd display in a (potentially uncontrolled) internal environment - but could be rain forest or desert anywhere! (I have had to deal with this with my woodworking pieces).

Now for some bigger panels with more interesting patterns.

I've used Deft on knife handles and found the liquid can be painted on with almost any brush, or a cheap foam applicator and it levels out very nicely, very forgiving, while the spray version has been tough to get right. I love the depth and luster of the wood with Deft, beautiful stuff.