For the last few months, we’ve been asking you to send in a few pictures of a project you’ve made to enter our online woodworking contest. The catch was that the project had to include an inlay or something that could more or less make an ordinary project dance a two-step in the spirit of “a decorative added detail.”
We called it “Inlays, Insets, and Includes” because, well, we couldn’t think of another way to sum it all up in one word. Three would have to do, and when you see these projects I think you’ll agree it clicked with everyone.
As usual, you’ve blown us away with your work!
We received 233 amazing projects that sample a slice of real life. We’re talking everything from tiny ring boxes to 10-seater dining tables. So, I grabbed a few guys on staff here and we combed through all the projects and set out to select 20 finalists.
Easier said than done: after a little arguing here, some jabbing there, we finally agreed on 30. The 4 projects you find below are the ones that pulled ahead in an online vote we ran for that last week.
Everyone who participated really deserves some recognition because it takes a lot of courage to craft a project and put it out there to share with others. Check out the full gallery here.
Give these folks a round of applause.
– Mark
How Did The Voting Work?
Voting, Not Judging
Voting was open to anyone who visited the online gallery between March 26 and April 1
Pick 5
The voting process was simply pick your personal favorite 5 projects by clicking each one to give it a star. You decide what you like for your own reasons.
Rank By Count
We add up the number of votes for each project, and sort them for the top 3 voted projects
Paul calls his project “marquetry jewelry box in the style of Louis XIV with solid walnut, solid queen ebony, Baltic birch plywood, veneer species too numerous to mention.”
Click the photos to get a closer look. It becomes clear that Paul put in an unfathomable amount of time to not only cut his inlaid pieces but to also add shading and shadows.
Jacob says, “A walnut keepsake box with a purpleheart insert on the lid. Kingwood and olivewood outline the bottom interior of the box.”
Dawn’s “Jaguar Cub on Branch” captured a lot of attention for its wonderful combination of whimsical design and downright masterful execution.
Dawn tells us, “It’s an intarsia project with over 210 pieces. The mahogany body is inlaid with over 120 black walnut spots. The face, ears and underbelly are accented with maple and cherry. The cub is sleeping on a zebrawood branch.”
While at Woodworkers Source we didn’t quite agree on all the projects, we did agree on one that really stood out to us. So the general public picked the top 3 projects but we’d like to recognize this one too.
Appropriately named, “My Wife’s Jewelry Box (She has a lot of jewelry)” by Gary Sink uses a lot of woods including poplar, cherry, maple, birds eye maple, padauk, zebrawood, mahogany, rosewood and more. The intricate vines-and-flowers inlay work adds some beautiful decoration to an already astounding project.
Congratulations Gary! We’ll send you a $50 Woodworkers Source gift card.
By: Gary Sink
By: Gary Sink
By: Gary Sink1st Place
$375 Value Lumber Pack
Walnut, Cherry & Maple
40 bd. ft. mix assortment
+ Woodworkers Source Hat
2nd Place
$200 Value Lumber Pack
Walnut & Cherry
20 bd. ft. mix assortment
+ Woodworkers Source Hat
3rd Place
$100 Value Lumber Pack
Walnut & Cherry
10 bd. ft. mix assortment
+ Woodworkers Source Hat
And More Prizes for the Top 20!
Vice President of Operations – Woodworkers Source
We’re a family-owned lumber & woodworking supply retailer with 3 delightful stores in Arizona, and 35 friendly employees.
Mark oversees the company and creates tutorials on wood finishing and woodworking tips for hardwood lumber.
Woodworkers Source is a division of MacBeath Hardwood Co.
