Well at least I think I know what went wrong-

Started with walnut and maple glue-up. Then sliced off the strips to make a checker board design.

 

Laid out the pieces-

 

Marked the surface for the holes-

 

 

Marked the approximate hole locations-

 

Set up the hollow morticer to create square holes-

 

Holes were cut into each individual strip-

 

Strips were glued together-

 

Sanded smooth-

 

1/4" x 1/4" walnut and maple pieces cut for hole plugs on the band saw using a little jig-

 

All of the plugs glued into place-

 

Pegs trimmed and sanded-

 

The failure-

 

If  ever make another one of these, the maple plugs need to be inserted with the edge or flat grain up. The end grain turned too dark (look more like cherry) and the illusion is barely visible. Close up it cannot be noticed at all. From a distance there is a slight illusion of the bending of the strips.

Looks crazy as he77 to me, wish I could fail like that.

 

Steve

8 minutes ago, Steve Krumanaker said:

Looks crazy as he77 to me, wish I could fail like that.

 

Steve

me too..

I see the illusion clearly Lew, that was an awesome fail man! Love it!

I can see it. Looks great to me!

Man Lew, you've got patience beyond description!  I'm glad you apparently failed because it hurts my eyes to look at it.  I truly had to close one eye to prevent seeing the illusion. I like it as it is...Thanks for sharing the project & process...my eyes are still messed up! 

Must be your camera lens. Looks pretty optical illusiony to me.

I like it!

Already mentioned, but I wished my failures turned out the nice. That's awesome!

It has my eyes doing the squiggles.  I like it.

Funny I could not see the failure and now I cannot see at all. Guess I stared at it too long. Good job. I wonder if it would work with round holes instead of square.

On 9/12/2016 at 9:42 PM, Steve Krumanaker said:

Looks crazy as he77 to me, wish I could fail like that.

 

Steve

Thanks Steve!

 

On 9/12/2016 at 9:50 PM, Stick486 said:

me too..

Thanks, Stick!

 

On 9/12/2016 at 9:58 PM, John Morris said:

I see the illusion clearly Lew, that was an awesome fail man! Love it!

Thank You, John. I was hoping the effect would have been more noticeable, close up.

 

On 9/12/2016 at 9:59 PM, Chips N Dust said:

I can see it. Looks great to me!

Thanks, Kelly!

 

On 9/12/2016 at 10:28 PM, Grandpadave52 said:

Man Lew, you've got patience beyond description!  I'm glad you apparently failed because it hurts my eyes to look at it.  I truly had to close one eye to prevent seeing the illusion. I like it as it is...Thanks for sharing the project & process...my eyes are still messed up! 

Thanks, Dave! Hope your eyes have returned to normal!!

 

On 9/12/2016 at 10:37 PM, Gene Howe said:

Must be your camera lens. Looks pretty optical illusiony to me.

Thanks, Gene!

 

23 hours ago, Bundoman said:

I like it!

Thanks, Bondo!

 

15 hours ago, Fred W. Hargis, Jr said:

Already mentioned, but I wished my failures turned out the nice. That's awesome!

Thanks, Fred!

 

12 hours ago, HandyDan said:

It has my eyes doing the squiggles.  I like it.

Thank You, Dan!

 

10 hours ago, Gerald said:

Funny I could not see the failure and now I cannot see at all. Guess I stared at it too long. Good job. I wonder if it would work with round holes instead of square.

Thanks, Gerald! Hope your eyesite has returned! Here's an example- NOT my work- of round holes-

 

 

Thanks everyone for the very kind words. They are really appreciated! 

best run that through the planer and flatten it...

the food will roll off of it otherwise...

51 minutes ago, Stick486 said:

best run that through the planer and flatten it...

the food will roll off of it otherwise...

That is incredible!

Cal

That is anything but a fail. Seeing the illusion close-up or not, OK we're are own worst critics, is not a fail! Wow!

Smaller squares will make that work better as you get closer to it.

 

Nice fail!!!!!!

I just have 2 basic questions - 1: Will the product you are cutting stay on the board or will it roll off? 2: Isn't this board a safety hazard? Won't is mess with your depth perception and you take a chance of cutting yourself instead of what you intended to cut? Curious mind here...

I may have to try this sometime.  Looks real good Lew.

Thank you, Roy!