Finished Desk Plaques

[JuicyCarp]

I wanted to post a few of the desk plaques I carved, they were a lot of fun, but not without thier frustrations! I am still waiting on the purpleheart ones to be finished, I broke my cutting bit on the purpleheart tonight so I will need to finish cutting them on the table saw tomorrow. None of these are stained, they are all 100% natural colors, finished with a few coats of laquer. "Captain America" is Mayan Walnut, Rodney Little is Santos Mohagany, and Travis is African Mohagany! I will post the purpleheart once they are finished!

Kevin

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[dehrlich]

Those look awesome! As to breaking your cutting bit, I had that problem today too. First time using it and it came out of the QC adapter because of a loose screw. Never thought to check it, figured LHR put thread lock on them and tightened it. And before anyone mentions it, I have a Rock on order!

Back to your post, I wish there was something in the designer that would let us like set a cut speed for harder woods. I always cringe when I use a cutting bit on hard maple. I seldom use the cutting bit... I usually use a vector bit to cut a shallow path then follow that on the band saw or table saw.

[mtylerfl]

Great-looking desk plaques, Kevin!

[lawrence]

Yup, those look great!

What were your settings for the cutout- did you take multiple passes or one big one? (purpleheart is awfully hard stuff)

Lawrence

[JuicyCarp]

Lawrence, it was a single pass cut. I definately learned yet another lesson, the hard way!

[unitedcases]

I think al has a trick for the cut speed....maybe he will chime in. Something about selecting different bits. I don't use the cut function ever so I couldn't tell you bit I remember hearing him talk about. I think.

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[mtylerfl]

I think al has a trick for the cut speed....maybe he will chime in. Something about selecting different bits. I don't use the cut function ever so I couldn't tell you bit I remember hearing him talk about. I think.

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I'll let Al respond with the details, but the "trick" was only for MANUAL cut out vectors, not the actual Cut Path Tool function.

[rcdages]

Nice cave on the desk plaques.

[henry1]

tHEY ARE NICE CARVES

[JuicyCarp]

I wanted to update the thread and add the finished purpleheart plaques. This was really an enjoyable project for me!

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[lynnfrwd]

Sweet!


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[easybuilt]

Awesome desk places and beautiful colors!

[henry1]

Those are nice plague for a desk

[dehrlich]

Did you paint the lettering on the purpleheart or is that a double carve? How long did you leave them in the sun to get purple again? Very nice!

[JuicyCarp]

Thanks for the coments everyone!

The letters on the purpleheart are actually gold leafed, but its hard to capture the gold leaf in a good picture! None of the other letters have been touched with anything but laquer. After sanding the purpleheart down I tried several different ideas that I found on the web to try and turn them back to purple, in the end I used my wifes oven. I did several test bakes with a few chunks of the scrap to figure out the right time and temp, and settled on 400 degrees for 30 minutes. The color came out such a purply purple, its crazy! The pictures really dont do it justice!

[rcdages]

Very nice display of your desk plaques.

All that receive them will love them.

[jmoriearty]

Did you paint the lettering on the purpleheart or is that a double carve? How long did you leave them in the sun to get purple again? Very nice!

I've always hated having to use sunlight to get purple heart to oxidize back to it's beautiful purple color, heat works just as well. The oven method JC mentioned is a good tried and true method. For additional effects you can play with a small torch and heat the purple heart up to get the exact color you want, but you have to be careful because resin comes up to the surface with this method....but that can be kind of cool sometimes too. A lot of exotics change color with heat, it can be fun to play with.