I’m brand new to wood-working, but come from the 3D printing world, so, I’m familiar with Fusion 360, GCode and modeling in general. I wanted to make a nice jewelry box. I went to my nearby wood store and found a piece of wood that was a nice purple color and thought “the perfect wood for my first real project”.
OMG. Purple Heart.
Yes, I broke end mills. Yes I have a bazillion splinters. Yes, I now have buckets full of purple heart sawdust/chips…
Yes, I learned a LOT. =)
Here’s my first “real” project with my Shapeoko 5 Pro using Fusion 360 to model and generate tool paths:
Depending on where you display this, you might get a surprise on how much this wood changes color; even to a dingy looking greyish color! 
I made 3 of these as gifts. And yea, I’ve heard that they fade in color. I suspect they’ll be placed indoors in bedrooms, but who knows.
Nice font! Did you get that look by engraving the contour of the letter, or is it a special font? How many times did you go over each letter?
Thanks!
The font is a version of Warren Chappell’s Trajanus typeface which I’ve been working on for a very long while now. The initial plan was to make a version of each hot metal size, but got stalled out by the need to interpolate the many characters which I did not have a sample for. The current plan is to instead find (or write) a nice interface for METAFONT/METAPOST and create the design thus (ideally as a METAFONT).
The engraving was done as a No Offset Contour in a single pass to a depth of 0.25mm
(don’t have the font installed on this computer)
For an old, classic example of this font in use, see the Ballantine Books versions of JRR Tolkien’s books:
That is totally awesome!
Last project for 2023. I’m always complaining at dinner that I don’t have a bread plate. Well. We can fix that.
Thought about having a flying biscuit on it but then thought maybe one day that wouldn’t be funny. 
Super nice! For my second project ever I think I’ll something similar. Maybe a set of coasters since my wife is always complaining I’m leaving water rings all over the furniture.
I like @lordofcandy coasters because the texture will help wick away moisture. If you like Star wars I made the and epoxy filled for my fanboy family.
Do a quick calculation on the volume of “drip” that a coaster will hold. It doesn’t seem, to me, that a flat surface coaster is much better than a paper napkin. (Of course, around here we tend to get a lot of condensation on our drinks.)
I hear you, Mr. CrookedWoodTex. I think it’s just the thought that counts. We have some coasters of “absorbent stone” and I still have to mop them off with a paper towel.
Have a great new year.
Wow! Those are really nice.
What is this star wars you speak of🤔
I made these entwined bowls in Elm as a Christmas gift
I thought that it might have looked better without the outside cut of the bowls, so I had to make another, this time in Tigerwood.
And I still can’t decide which design looks the best!
They both look great–Traditional or modern.
