Intarsia #1: New Intarsia Blog for TripleB

I really am starting to enjoy this Intarsia art, and since this is new to me, I thought I would start logging everything into a blog.

I have always admired and been a little intimidated by the Art of Intarsia, I think that I thought only somebody that has been behind a scroll saw for many years would have the talent to do it. As being I’ve only been using a scroll saw for a little over a year, I figured it was simply above my abilities. I finally decided to just give it a shot, after all it’s only wood and a saw and a lot of sanding, and I’m glad I did.

I think another reason I was reluctant to try Intarsia was the shaping aspect of the pieces, I simply did not think I would have the patience to do all the sanding work that is required to make your piece look good. With that in mind I bought some additional sanding equipment to help make the sanding task easier before I started. I purchased a sanding mop and some padded disk sanders, and I am willing to say that had I not bought those items, I probably would have no further interest in Intarsia due to the sanding involved. Those two items not only made the sanding easy, but actually made it fun. If you are considering starting Intarsia, I would highly recommend having these before you start.

Just in case you want to know, I bought these items at Klingspor's
As you can see I put them in my drill press, pull up a chair and shape away. I know, I may be weird, but I find it very relaxing. Since I do this in my garage and saw dust is an issue, I put the drill press right by the door and set a box fan up behind me to blow all the saw dust outside. Sawdust is an issue, there is lots of it when shaping, so please take that into consideration if you are going to do Intarsia. We all know saw dust is evil!

To catch you up, the below photo’s are my first three Intarsia projects, even though I really don’t consider the train “intarsia” the pattern did come out of an intarsia book.

Thanks for taking the time to read my new blog, I will try to keep up with pictures when I start my next Intarsia project (I have a pattern ordered that I hope will be here in the next couple days), I will do my best to document the next project while I am making it. I could really use input from all of you since I still have no real clue what I am doing.

Thanks

Bob
TripleB
Scroll Saw Forum

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