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Thanks to Scott (SASmith) for the inspiration here. This was glued up and set aside during "the coaster project" without considering adding the optical illusion.

Scott's post was based on this design.

So I was sanding away on this Maple and Walnut end grain board and remembered Scott's post on the "the bulge".....

First realization was I have the wrong number of blocks, or more specifically, no center block…...oh well, went for it anyways, thinking that I could cut off a row on 2 sides…....decided to leave it as is…...the off center bulge…...

The last pic shows the mortising machine setup using a homehand router table fence to elevate the workpiece above the fence and other bits that obstruct the full depth of the machine…. At first I clamped every hole but it seemed like time stood still so ended up just eye-balling them and it turned out ok…..

The effect turned out pretty well, better than the photos may show. It seems that the farther away you are the more pronounced the effect…

Photos 1,4 and 5 with mineral oil.

This was a fun one….........thanks again Scott…......

Jeff

Gallery

Comments

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Roer - the mortising machine is basically a drill press with the square (hollow) chisel around the drill bit - and yes, it drill square holes! Who invents this stuff?

To All - THANKS for all the great comments!

And Steve - thanks for noticing the lack of burn marks - this may be a first for me, but was pretty happy with the results - no tear-out either :) I used this jig again….

Jeff
 

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Could such a "chisel" be mounted on a normal router or drill press ? If not, do you have a link that describes your mortising machine ?
 

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Roer - here is the Wikipedia link.

And yes - you can buy an attachment for your drill press (you need to verify first) like this discussion here.

Hope this helps!

Jeff
 

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That is so cool.
 

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great work; love the illusion, but after you drilled the mortises, how did you create the "plugs" to fit precisely?
 

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Jat - I ripped some strips from 1/4" stock and sized them just a wee bit oversize. I put glue in 4 or five holes at time and drove the strips into the holes with a mallet and used flush trim saw and went onto the next hole. Just need to pay attention to the grain direction of the strips - I marked one edge of the strip to help keep track.

The grain DOES show up clearly on these little squares…..ended up with one rouge grain…...

This make sense?

Jeff
 

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Wow , when I looked at it I thought you got the effect by making it in 3D . Then realized it was flat , that is so cool .
 

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Terrific work Jeff !!

Impressive and cool effect. Maple and walnut make a great contrast
 

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wow
 

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Like everyone else, I love the board, but I want to say that I really like the way you signed the piece, too with your initials inlaid.

Sweet project all the way around!
 

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That is really cool, love the optics.
On the to do list, but I don't have a hollow chisel mortiser, and though possible without one, it would be really miserable to get cleanly lined up like you have.

Nice project
 

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Has anyone tried this with round pegs instead of square? Would the effect be the same? For those of us that don't have a chisel mortiser…......
 

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Hey - thanks again for all the great comments!

Choppertoo - the initials are actually made from a branding iron - we have a machine shop at work so a little government job…..thanks.

indianawoodbutcher - if you click the link at the very beginning of this post you can see the inspiration for this project - which uses round pegs instead of square….

I should also add, if i was going to do this again, I think I would do the first glueup for the end grain board (which is just alternating strips). Crosscut the strips for the final glueup - but just dry clamp them together, mark the mortise locations, unclamp, mortise, and then do the glueup.

This would allow for any size board - no special setup for the mortiser, and likely much better accuracy.

Jeff
 

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Could the mortiser chisel be mounted ón a plunge router in stead of a drill pres ?
 

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roer you just invented a speed morticer, cool.
 
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