GET INLAID

So I took time off from the dog design to work on a memorial ornament for Antiguo.  A simple design, just his monogram and an infinity symbol in MOP inlaid into ebony, which would later have a hole drilled into it to attach this pendant I bought at Etsy.com.  And it was going so well, too.  I didn’t break pieces while sawing them.  The cavity was fine.   But I continue to have a problem with the CA glue, and man, am I tired of it.  The air bubbles which I’d accepted as a part of the process are no longer acceptable.  Why?  Because I spent a week picking them out, adding more glue, waiting, and then resanding, only to find that other bubbles appear.  This went on day after day, and there’s really no reason I should be spending a week sanding a 2" project.

It got really bad Thursday night, when I realized that I’d sanded right through half the infinity symbol, and that my previously unmarred monogram letters now had the tiniest fractures in them, telling me I was about to go through them, too. 

That’s a full millimeter of shell, just gone, and STILL there were 2 air bubbles to be fixed and resanded.  I was so pissed.  I don’t know if it’s temperature thing, or what.  I let the piece cure vibrating on the air blower to try to shake loose any bubbles that form immediately, and it helps, but it is obviously not enough.  So now I have to start all over, but it won’t be with CA glue this time.  I’ve ordered epoxy, black and clear, from Stew-Mac, and will try that.  It’ll be a new challenge, but frankly, I’m sick of the old challenge.  Grit Laskin uses epoxy, as I recall.  The ‘C’ could’ve used some clean-up anyway, I see now, so perhaps it’s for the best, but at this rate, I don’t know if I’ll have this Christmas ornament on my Christmas tree before the holiday.

In other news, my new band saw from MicroMark arrived.  I’m a little scared to take it out of the box, and I haven’t really had time.  Plus, I may be moving my shop from the garage to a yet-to-be-built shed out back.   I need more light, a more inspirational view than a blank brick wall, I’m subject to the passing stares of everyone who walks by, and the room is too hard to effect reasonable climate control.  Plus, I keep bumping my rolling chair into my car.  The shed’s the only thing on my Christmas list, so I just need to get on ordering it.