Made using my Shapeoko 3 XXL (with it’s OG belt drive Z axis and dewalt router)
The Process:
Poem was written by a friend who wanted to customize a project for her mom for Christmas. We came up with the idea of a small serving board that can be used for both display and using food-grade finishes (just in case) featuring her poem.
I designed the file originally using her own handwriting. After importing into Carbide Create and sharing the design, she was too critical of her own handwriting - so we opted for a handwritten font instead. And of course, the font she chose: Every single letter needed clean up (deleting and/or smoothing nodes) so that was a bit of work.
It was a 2 hour cut with a 60 degree vbit. Material used is maple. Then a simple #201 end mill for cutout.
Lessons learned:
I cut the board, and sealed with mineral oil - and as soon as I poured in the epoxy, I knew it was not enough to hold back the pigment and I had a ton of bleed into the surrounding wood almost immediately after pouring the epoxy. We originally had chosen black for the lettering but it was much too stark and harsh for the design.
Second attempt: using epoxy resin with mica powder only. I went with a bronze brown color to align with the warmth of the maple and it was a wonderful choice.
Very happy with how this turned out!
