My family and I are planning a trip in March. Not only that I running out of time to do that, but I also trying to save a buck or two. This year for Valentines Day my wife and I decided to make our gifts instead of paying for something. This is what I came up with. I Valentine Day Card. It features an inlay heart cut on the X-Carve CNC machine. A little art work with some paint and and a half day worth of work. I already gave the gift to my wife and she loved it. I did that so can could release the video to get you inspired to make some for this lovely Holiday.

Step 1: Wood Prep

Board preparation. Start with the width 4.75″ This is the highest I can go and still fit in my band saw for re-saw. Conforming to the golden rule I cross cut the board to about 8.5″ It’s a little long at this point so I can clean the board up on the joiner and be able to remove the snipe.

I have cleaned the board up at the joiner. Now lets apply the golden rule to make the over all size look right. The width is still 4.75.” To get the length you need to do a little math, Don’t worry it easy math, Take the width 4.75 mutiple it by 1.618 this will provide the length to cut. 4.75 X 1.618 = 7.68. I rounded the number to 7.75″ for simple measuring. I used double sided tape to both boards in place making sure its line up right and book matched. cross cut the two boards the width of 7.75″

I picked up some very small hinges the store only had brass color so I ended up painting them black and used the brass screws to give contrast. With the two boards still taped together I marked out for the hinges with a marking knife. I use the table saw to remove most of the waste and cleaned up the cut with a chisel. Continued cleaning till the hing fit perfect.

Step 2: CNC at Work

Now on to the X-Carve. This type of project I think is where the X-Carve shines. I would not be able to do this level of accuracy without it. Even though I messed up with the heart and had a bit break and the alignment got off a little. It still turn out great and would not attempt the small letters by hand.

Step 3: Final Steps

If you take no advice from me ever, please take this one. Before you start painting spray a thin coat of lacquer or shellac on the piece. This will save you work and time. After you done that you can paint the letters and be as sloppy as you want. Once the paint is dry you can simply sand the top leaving the great finished letters. I repeated these steps with the other side, but I added a piece of padauk inlay to the mix. Before I glued the heart in place I painted the perimeter of the heart black to hide the mistake I made with the inlay. The heart didn’t quite fit right, I’m kind of glad it didn’t with the painted edges it gave a great shadow.

Now you can add the hinges, be sure to pre-drill the hole before putting into that thin wood. Next step is the best and easiest enjoy your work and give it to someone you care about.line.