GET INLAID

So Sunday I started sawing piece #2 and immediately went out of the lines, so I had to make another and let it sit. That piece IS cursed, and it gets worse, but I get ahead of myself.

I had lined up my existing pieces on top of the pattern, and thought it might be worth attempting a precision routing job, leaving the thin spaces between them. It would be difficult, but worth trying, anyway. So I taped the pattern to the MDF I intended to practice on.

May I suggest that using old veggie cans, even those opened with one of those no-sharp-edges can openers, to hold small tools, is NOT the best idea. Because there’s a sharp ridge inside the can, and it’ll get ya. It did me. I was just trying to grab the scribe, too.

It wasn’t even worth it, because the scribe shredded the paper, as you see on the left above. So I did the rest with an Exacto knife, after I put pressure on my wound long enough for it to stop bleeding. I should probably put Band-Aids on my shop supply list. A big box.

Here’s the same pattern, unmasked.

This was going to be a 2-step process: rout out the center with the 1/32” bit, then do the rest with the 1/64” bit. Here’s the results of round one.

Here’s the 1/64 bit. Tiny!

Here’s round 2’s results. Not bad, but as you can see, there’s a discrepancy of depth, even though I swear I measured in both cases. I might’ve grabbed an MOP piece to measure the first bit depth, and the green abalone to measure the 2nd, now that I think of it. They’re half a millimeter different, the MOP being thicker, and that might account for this. I thought about using the smaller bit for all of it, but it would take forever, and the smaller bits are more breakable. These carbide bits weren’t cheap.

My piece #2 (III) was ready to go, so I started sawing it. All was well until somehow, (again, it’s a mystery), the edge got chipped, so I decided to fudge it by trying to glue the pieces back on, figuring I’d grind them to shape after.

In hindsight I’m ashamed at my laziness. But wait! There’s more! I did get it ground to shape, but do you think it fit into the design? Of course not. And by then, I’d glued 4 of the 5 other pieces down onto the ground for scribing. So rather than take all those off AND saw Piece #2 (IV), I decided I’d grind that bastard to shape and just stick it in there. And that didn’t go well, either. In the middle of complete disgust, Scott came out to tell me my folks had just called, so I went in to call them back. I needed the break.

After I got off the phone, I went out and ground down the piece until it mostly fit, glued it in, and walked away thinking, “It’s good enough.” But it’s not good enough; it sucks. I should’ve just made a new piece, and my impatience will result in my feeling shitty about that shortcut for awhile. It doesn’t bode well for my craftsmanship, I’ll say that much.

Impatience is my bane, over and over, as I try to learn something new. I’ve been at this a whole WEEK, and already I’m getting impatient? What the hell is wrong with me? What happened to my “Zen mind, beginner mind”? I need to settle down, take a deep breath (or ten), and throw out my expectations, or I’m not going to get anywhere but crabby.