Koa wood cross with shell inlay (Abalone & Mother of Pearl) made for a friend. Cut inlay pocket a little larger than usual to have a dark outline and more contrast. Worked out well.
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Nice!!
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Did you cut the shell with your XC? Looks awesome bud!
I cheated and bought the shell cross piece already made and strip cut the Abalone sheet on the table saw.
Thats not cheating, it’s working smarter not harder!
Nice piece. Not too many make me say “woah!” out loud sitting in front of the screen.
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How did you measure and cut the pocket so exactly to fit the shell?
I scanned the piece and then created a vector outline using CorelDraw.
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Interesting, I have not tried that before, how do you keep the scale correct?
Just scanned @ 100% @ 600dpi and imported into Corel. Stayed at original scan size.
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most scanners by default do 1:1 scans. very handy for making adapters and flanges
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What scanner do you use?
Here’s how you make your own mother of pearl inlays 
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Microtek ScanMaker 9800XL (12" x 17"). I’ve had it for probably 12 yrs. Great scanner tho a little pricey when new at $1,700.
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Yes, I’ve seen those videos. Way more work and time involved than I was willing to do. Bought the cross that had probably 20 separate pieces. Would have taken hours to do that. For $30…it was a no brainer.
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Beautiful work, Jeff. I’m sure your friend really appreciated it. You are an inspiration.
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