OK, that might seem like a strange title for a work in progress but I think after you see this project you"ll understand the reason. I've been doing Intarsia for a long time and pride myself in putting lots of detail into my pieces by using only natural colored wood, detail carving and using lots of itty bitty pieces to add as much realism as I can to my work.
Last week I was asked to make some custom Beer Tap Handles for a guy here in town that has his own home brewery. He sent me a photo of the logo that he has and asked if I could carve or etch the logo onto the handle somehow.
Picture of logo

Don't do much carving or etching I said but I do Intarsia which is a unique type of woodworking that might be something you'd like to see. Invited him to the shop to see some of my work. We discussed pricing, woods, sizes and I was given the go-ahead to get em done as an intarsia. Talk about a challenge!!! Like I said, I like working with small pieces but I gotta tell you , I might have bitten off more than I can chew with this project.
Just to give an idea of the size of these things, the total width of the logo is 4 1/4" so keeping the scale correct means that the inlay has to be contained in a 3 " circle. So the letters are less than 1/4" tall. I've cut some pretty small pieces before but to cut and fit letters this small and inlay them into a background--well that's just getting down to the nitty gritty part of this type of work.
That little black spec is the letter "E"

So after a little trial and error (LOTS) and learning a few new cutting and sanding techniques here is the first of 4 Rabid Otter logo's. Still have to turn the handle and glue everything in but I do like a challenge.

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Mike
'why buy it if you can build it'
www.midlothianwoodworks.com

Welcome Mike to TPW!

Great work. I'd say you captured it very nicely and when finished will look spectacular. We want pics when it's finished.

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www.thepatriotwoodworker.com Proud Supporter of Homes For Our Troops

Wow Mike! I cannot even think of doing something like that! That is some of finest detailed work I have seen in a long time, the patience and nerves to take this on.

The work is superb, you might have bitten off more then you can chew, but it sure looks like your handling it beautiful!

I am blown away man, really, I think you deserve a few glasses of what comes out below that custom tap handle!

Great work Mike!

Sharing this on Facebook now!

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John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker
Proud Supporter of Wounded Warrior Project and Homes For Our Troops

Thank you for posting this, when you posted this pattern a few weeks ago, I wondered how it would look in real wood, and i have to say that it really looks a lot better than I had even thought it would.

John Morris said:

Wow Mike! I cannot even think of doing something like that! That is some of finest detailed work I have seen in a long time, the patience and nerves to take this on.

The work is superb, you might have bitten off more then you can chew, but it sure looks like your handling it beautiful!

I am blown away man, really, I think you deserve a few glasses of what comes out below that custom tap handle!

Great work Mike!

Sharing this on Facebook now!

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John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker
Proud Supporter of Wounded Warrior Project and Homes For Our Troops

You really nailed it on this Mike. We love seeing projects like this.

Holy cow Mike how'd you pull that off.  I get eyestrain just thinking about it.  Like the other folks I sure would like to see the finished product.

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Ron Dudelston
Site Administrator

Above and Beyond WoodWorks

Thanks for the comments guys

I worked on the handle this weekend and it met with the owners approval so will now continue on the next three  tap handles.

 I wont glue anything together until all 4 handles are complete to insure that everything is the same for a matched set. Plus now i get to build the pedestal that the taps are attached to. This just gets better and better.

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Mike
'why buy it if you can build it'
www.midlothianwoodworks.com