Large Juniper Table Lamp with Stone Inlay

That is very nice. What type of stone is used for the inlay?

-- Brian, Lebanon PA, If you aren’t having fun doing it, find something else to do.

Very nice, that is a beautiful peice of Juniper and the turquoise adds a nice touch

-- Glenn, New Mexico

Beautiful table with great form. Where do you get the malachite from? I want to start doing some inlay. Thanks for sharing.

-- My favorite piece is my last one, my best piece is my next one.

We get the malachite from Great South Gems and Minerals. They many stones to choose from www.greatsouth.net

-- www.rmtwist.com

Is the malachite sandable, or is it rough?

-- Brian, Lebanon PA, If you aren’t having fun doing it, find something else to do.

Its rough but softer than turquoise, the best way we found to sand it is to use an aluminum ozide hook & loop sandpaper about 60-8 grit. If anyone has a better way of sanding down this stone any information would be appreciated.

Thanks!!!

-- www.rmtwist.com

it’s a beautiful looking lamp.

Okay I lied, but not on purpose. We use silicon carbide sandpaper first then aluminum oxide. This is the article that we used to help us get started on learning how to inlay

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

-- www.rmtwist.com

Candy, Thanks for the info: the stone inlay looks like something I am going to try on a few projects. I can see where this would be better than wood filler in the right situation.

-- Brian, Lebanon PA, If you aren’t having fun doing it, find something else to do.

Wow, that is really magnificent.

That is a very nice art piece. I really like the twisting, but wonder how you got the electric cord through the piece, or do you inlay to hide it?

-- so much wood, so little time. Bradford. Wood-a-holics unanimous president

To get the cord through we drill holes down through the lamp, after we run the cord we patch the holes with wood.

-- www.rmtwist.com

Warning to all about Malachite!!!!!!!! First I want to say, very cool piece, nicely finished and great inlay work.
Malachite dust is poisonous and can make your nose bleed and WILL!!! if too much is breathed, so always wear good fitting respirator or fan blowing it well away from you outside. It should always be cut wet when possible with a lapridary trim saw that uses diamond blade thats very thin. I’ve been cutting stone since 1972 starting in gems, and still cut gems once in awhile, malachite is a great stone, but use caution when working with it. Check out lapidary stone suppliers on the web and you can learn about different stones that reach every color of the rainbow. It is a great accent to your wood work. Inlays into handles or the tops, check out David Marks website and you’ll see some stone inlay. Tiger eye stone and ebony wood handles would be so killer. In almost all cases, the polishing should be done wet and then inlaid into the stone, especially bigger or whole pieces. On the wood when sanding dry, carborundum paper will handle most stones that aren’t too hard, agate is very hard, and you will wear down wood faster that surrounds the stone. There is also diamond sand paper sheets available, but I haven’t tried them. They would sand anything. Heat and vibration, are the enemies of stone, and will cause them to break, never overheat the stone, if you can’t leave your finger on it for 5 seconds, it’s too hot. You set your pieces with epoxy? That would be the best glue, but remember that all glues, (except may super glue) will soften as they get hot. Water on a cotton ball , wiped occassionally will help a lot, with keeping it from overheating, if stone is REALLY hot, let it cool down on it’s own before putting your beer or vodka on the rocks on it, as the cold water could also crack it. Polishing is usually done with such compounds as – cerrium oxide, tin oxide, and covers about 80% stones, but their are others, but those are the most common. If I can be of help, ask away. – Dan

-- Dan Wiggins

Very nice work.

-- Michael A. Brailsford

Beautiful work!