Buffalo Box Intarsia-A Work in Progress

I will begin this WIP series with a little history. I have been creating Intarsia since 1992 after reading an article in Wood magazine by Judy Gayle Roberts about how to do this beautiful woodworking art form.
After doing a couple of her patterns, I started creating my own Intarsia patterns and began collecting many different woods to use in my art. Learning about the wide selection of natural colors and grains of the various woods and being able to incorporate them into my pieces is still the best part of the Intarsia process.One of the best ways that I have found to utilize these woods was to incorporate them into the tops of keepsake boxes which are functional , don’t require a lot of wood and can be detailed and easily customized. Although I do 20-30 of my standard boxes every year it is the custom patterns that are the most fun to create.
For this WIP I will be designing a pattern for my wife’s cousin who owns a Buffalo farm in North Carolina and wants the boxes to be auctioned at the Buffalo conventions that he will attend.
I will begin by showing the steps for making the box.

These boxes will be made from Black Walnut and will measure 6” x 8” x 3.5”

Here is the walnut stock that will be used.

A couple of passes through the jointer make it nice and flat.

The next step is to resaw to the rough thickness. (9/16”)

2 passes through the planer gets me to 1/2” thick.

Once the stock has been sized to the correct thickness and height, it’s over to the miter saw to cut the box sides to the correct lengths. I like to cut the sides of my boxes so that the grain runs sequentially around the exterior so I begin my miters by cutting one end at a 45 degree angle.

The inside dimensions of the box is 6” x 8” so after measuring and marking the first 8” side I do my miter cut. The piece of masking tape on the saw fence is used to mark the reference for the other 8” side.

Swinging the saw over and sliding the stock over I continue cutting until all 4 sides are cut to the proper length.

Once all of the box sides have been cut ,it’s over to the router to route all of the grooves for the top and bottom back boards. I use a 1/4” router bit for the grooves
The bottom backer is 1/8” from the bottom of the box and 1/4” deep.

The top backer is 1/4” from the top and 1/4” deep.

These boxes also will include an accent strip groove which is located 1” from the bottom of the box and is 1/8” deep.

This concludes the milling process for the custom Buffalo Keepsake boxes. The next sequence will be the glue up process.

– Mike

Intarsia Buffalo Box-Part 2
In my first installment I showed the steps to cut and prep the stock for the custom keepsake box.
This installment shows the steps to glue -up the box and cut the lid.
I begin by gluing in the accent strips on all of the box sides. I am using Holly strips that I sized 1/4” wide by 1/8” thick

I use CA glue and tap them in place.

Once the glue has set up I use a small flex-blade saw to trim the ends flush with the miters.

I use a sanding block to sand the strips flush with the box side.

Now is also the time to sand all of the insides of the box sides up to 220 grit.

In this next photo, I’m using my rotary tool with a 5/64” high speed bit to make small holes in the miters to give the glue joint extra strength being careful not to drill through the side and not drilling 3/4” down from the top of the box where the lid will be separated.

I’ve cut the backer boards to fit in the grooves and do a dry fit to make sure all of the miters fit tight and the box is square.

Now comes the fun part. Laying all of the box sides in the right sequence against a straight edge I tape the ends together using packing tape stretched tight to pull the miters together.

Carefully flipping the box sides over I apply glue to the backer grooves and to the miters.

Setting the top and bottom backers in place I now pull the sides together and tape the last corner together with packing tape.

Squaring the glued box with a framing square I pull the corners tight with packing tape stretched diagonally on the top and bottom of the box.

After the glue has dried and the tape has been removed I sand the sides of the box to 220 grit.

In the next photos, I have set the fence of the bandsaw 3/4” from the blade and have placed the top of the box against the fence. Saw through until the lid is separated.

Lid separated from box

Over to the router to round off the top and bottom edges of the box using a 1/4” roundover bit.

Remove saw marks on the inside edges of the box and lid by sanding with 100grit sandpaper on a flat surface.

Box is ready for finishing and hinges—but not yet.

My next entry will be designing the pattern and starting the intarsia.

Intarsia Buffalo Box Part 3-The Pattern
I will start by creating the scaled background for the intarsia pattern. Using Word office 2007 I did the 6” x 8” pattern sheet that fits into the top recess of the box lid and put the oval 1/2 ” from the edges.

These are the subject photos that I will use for the intarsia. The first pic is from Buffalo Jack’s ranch in NC.

This is the first draft of the hand drawn pattern that I made. As you can see, there will be lots of tiny pieces that will test my scrolling skills.

Time to create the intarsia of the Custom Buffalo Box

Intarsia Buffalo Box Part 4- The Intarsia
I will begin this stage of the intarsia process by resawing the wood that will become the background for the box lid. I am using Lacewood that will be bookmatched cut to 3/16.

After the resawing is done I have cut the bookmatched pieces to length and have placed them on the workbench and belt sand them to remove saw marks. I like to set the pieces on a piece of 60 grit sandpaper to help hold them still while I sand them with the sander.

Bookmatched pieces sanded to 220 grit.

In this next photo I am tracing the outlines of the pattern onto sticky-back label paper,using carbon paper.

After cutting out the pattern sections I peel off the backing and place them onto the wood blanks .Ready for cutting

I use a #3 reversed tooth blade to cut the pieces splitting the pattern line. Take your time-stay on the line.

I purposely cut the outsides of the pieces a little heavy so I can adjust with a little sanding for a good fit.

After removing the pattern from the pieces I use a 1/2” drum sander on the roto tool to round off the edges and sand the pieces with 320 grit. At this point I have cut a pattern and placed it into the box lid.I also have applied a coat of spray-on poly and wiped it off and set the pieces in place.

The bookmatched Lacewood should really look good after all of the finishing is done. Next segment will be cutting out the rest of the intarsia.

Intarsia Buffalo Box Part 5-More Intarsia
After refining the pattern I will now begin the steps to inlay the top of the keepsake box with the intarsia.
This first photo shows how I transfer the shape of the buffalo from the pattern to the sticky back label paper using carbon paper.The buffalo bodies are cut from 3/8” walnut,the heads are 3/8” peruvian walnut and the baby buffalo is 3/8”butternut.

The next photo shows cutting out the body of the big buffalo. I’m using a 2/0 double tooth blade for all of my cuts. I have also added a zero clearance table top (1/4” plywood) to the saw to prevent small pieces from breaking off or falling through the throat of the saw.

To take care of any gap between pieces, I hold the pieces together and run them through the blade.

The next photo shows the cut out pieces of the buffalos arranged on the pattern . Notice that the paper pattern has not been removed yet, to help locate places that need to be carved in.

Now is the time when I begin my shaping and carving of all the pieces. This is what will give the 3/D effects. I use different bits and sanders on the Dremal tool.

This next photo shows that I’m using a 5/64” high speed cutter to drill the hole where the eye goes.

I have formed a small dowel out of ebony to use for the eye by using a 1/2” drum sander until it fits snugly into the hole that I drilled.

I use a drop of CA glue on the end of the dowel and insert it into the socket. Hold it until it sets up.

After cutting the excess from the dowel I use a 1/4” drum sander to sand the ebony inlay flush.

I went ahead and cut the rest of the pieces for the buffalos and did most of the sanding and detail carving. To make it easier to assemble I like to glue small sections together to form larger units. To do this I have laid the tracing pattern down and taped a piece of clear plastic wrap over the pattern. I now put a little CA glue on the plastic and set the pieces in place on the plastic.

Here are the buffalo sections glued together. I still have more carving and sanding to do but it will be easier now that the pieces are together as a unit.

Once the glue sets up I can peel the units from the plastic and continue on with the rest of the intarsia.

Probably the trickiest part of this project is the fence. With a total of 30 pieces, most of which are less than 1/16” wide and 1/4” long it does take alot of time and patience to not make a mistake. I start by tracing the fence and mounting it to the holly, which is 1/4” thick. I drill 1/16” pilot holes to insert the blade to cut out the sections for the background.

Take your time and stay on the line.

Fence section complete—that was tricky!

After cutting out the fence I think I’ll take a break—- to be continued.

Intarsia Buffalo Box Part 6–Glue-up and finishing
Well I managed to get all of the intarsia pieces cut, shaped and fitted into the lid of the box so now it’s time to glue everything in place. I like to remove a few pieces at a time and glue them in. In these photos I use a pin to pry a piece up so that I can apply CA glue.

I will continue removing pieces and applying glue until all pieces are glued into place.

Everything is glued in and looking good.

Once the glue is dry, it’s time to apply the finish to the intarsia. I like to use a spray-on satin poly for my finish. I begin by blowing off any dust that might be between the pieces. Because the box itself will be finished with a wipe on poly, I mask off the top edges of the lid with packing tape and spray the top from all directions to get in -between all pieces. Three coats will do it.

I’ve gone ahead and applied the three coats to the lid and wiped on three coats to the box. Now it’s time to install the hinges. I begin by taping the lid to the box, carefully lining up the corners. I position the hinges and tape them in place.

In the next photo, I’m using a 1/16” drill bit to drill pilot holes for the #2×3/8” screws.

To keep from twisting the heads off of the screws, I dip the screws in vegetable oil.
Hinges installed.

Well the box is done except for the inside lining.This photo shows the material that I will be using to line the top and bottom of the box. I use a rotary cutter and a square to cut the material.