Shoving Jewels in Your Crotch

I have wanted to try this as well. Thanks for the tips. What was the cure time on the epoxy?

-- Superdav "No matter where you go - there you are." http://chiselandforge.com

Dave, I waited about 20 hours. It was dry as a bone with a heater under the board.

-- Failure does not stop me, it makes me try harder..... because I'm crazy.

Very cool Russ,great job.

-- W James Brokenbourgh Custom furniture maker http://artisticwoodstudio.com/

Jim, filling the crotch was not as easy as I thought. Seems if the epoxy has any depth to it at all, the stones or shavings will sink to the bottom. I have some molding epoxy which is made for casts of things. I may try that because it will set up level quickly so I can add the stuff after it sets with some regular epoxy and prevent it from falling to the bottom.

I may try some brass shavings the next time around.

-- Failure does not stop me, it makes me try harder..... because I'm crazy.

I am willing to try most anything and this is one of them.
I have always liked the look of turquoise jewelry etc.
I must admit that every photo of turquoise inlay in a piece of wood looks like more of a distraction than an asset.
I have seen many pix of this genre and wanted to keep an open mind but I have never seen one that looked good. Maybe I need to see it in the flesh…...................

-- mike...............

I have only tried this on turnings (see example below) and am not sure if the crushed stone powder is the same as you are using, but here is what I have found….

For shallow voids I fill with the powder, then use thin CA (medium also works) to set it place. For deeper voids I mix the powder and epoxy first, then fill the void. If it is deep enough I fill it in layers to allow for better drying, rather than filling all at once (the first time I did a deep void I did do it all at once, and 5 minute epoxy took about 24 hours, just as you found)

-- Robert --- making toothpicks one 3x3x12 blank at a time!

You found very nice thing to work on but don’t you think 24 hours for 5 minute epoxy is very long time…

Thread title is full of win, but seriously, nice job.
I remember reading some articles on epoxy inlay a while back using some other stones/powders. Some nice things can be done.

-- He who dies with the most tools... dies with the emptiest wallet.

Henry, it was an overnight and I couldn’t get to it till late the next day.

-- Failure does not stop me, it makes me try harder..... because I'm crazy.

I haven’t used it, but InLace looks to be a similar product, and might be easier to use. FWIW

-- Art

Art, that’s the stuff I read about a while back. Thanks for the link; added to my faves.

-- He who dies with the most tools... dies with the emptiest wallet.

Russell,just wanted to add my two cents worth. I use super glue and calcite. Calcite is a soft stone and comes in several colors and is very cheap, and available on the internet. You can use it to fill some very large voids as I did on this rocker head board. I left a large stone rough and hanging out at the bottom to give it a mined effect. I have also used coal if I need black and some shells crushed make good filler that can be sanded. Copper shavings, brass, and aluminum make little veins thru the stones to.The super glue is thin enough to soak in to punky wood and strengthen it.Just put the stone or other material in the void and dribble the glue over it. It will dry in about an hour. sand and use smaller crushed pieces till you have it filled the way you want.You may have to save this picture and enlarge it to see the stones good.

I love the title of this thread. Does the filler take stain at all?