Valentine's Day Card

Intro: Valentine's Day Card

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.

Comments

[mduncan6]

Good tip on the shellac. Thanks for the inspiration and nice work!

[mfwoodshop]

Thanks That helped me out so many times

[stephanielav]

wow i relly lov this wodruk

yaaaaaaaaaaaasssssssssssss

[mfwoodshop]

Thanks you

[SusannePrB]

Wow... I would really like a card like this one. Amazing!

[mfwoodshop]

Thanks you

[watchmeflyy]

Great job! Thanks for sharing the process and tips (nice tip about the coat of shellac/lacquer).

[mfwoodshop]

Thanks you

[mfwoodshop]

I hear ya, I really do. CNC work is nothing like pressing a botton and coming up with a project. Granted in this project not much design, but there was still work involved in getting the work piece ready. And of course the finishing. With many of my CNC projects there is more work involved before and after the CNC. Even if you have a CNC you still have to know how to wood work to design many project. I may not run a 3/8 dado cut, but I still have to know where, when and why to put that dado cut in a project. Remimber CNC is a tool to use, just like any other tool: table saw, router...

[HobbyJim]

Two responses here:

1. Your absolutely right. I have an Incra LS Positioner on my router table. I love doing hand-cut dovetails and box joints, but I turn to the LS when I have a lot of cuts to do. No different from the CNC. Thanks for putting that in perspective.

2. I've been a professional designer for over 30 years. Your font selection was excellent :)

Keep on woodworking,

Jim

[mfwoodshop]

Thanks Jim, I've done hand cut dove tail and have all the respect in the worl for those that love to do it and that are good at it. Not my favorite thing but there times it just makes the project. Have a good one

[JaneAir]

WOW!!Great! It looks really awesome! ^_^

[mfwoodshop]

Thanks you so much

[WoodCrafts 67]

Wow Mike

Nice Job on that Card, It really looks Awesome. Great Design, The X-Carve is An Awesome CNC What I have seen of it here and there. Welcome to Instructables Mate This is a great site to show your work........

[mfwoodshop]

Thank you it a little finicky but once it set it works well.

[HobbyJim]

I'm not a negative person... really. And your valentines card is very nice. But shouldn't instructables be about making stuff, not pressing a button and letting a machine do the work?

Seriously, your design is very nice and well executed. And choosing the personal touch for Valentines is always a huge step above going to the Hallmark store. But I just don't see any difference between this and printing a card on your inkjet.

Perhaps the Instructables folks should create a separate CNC page.

[isaylor]

All true, but...
inspiration. A wooden card is not an idea lots of folks come up with. I certainly wouldn't have thought of this if I didn't see this. Lots of times I have looked at 2 or 3 pics on an instructable and gone and made something purely out of inspiration, not a set of instructions. Great card btw!

[mfwoodshop]

Sorry I thought I had the video inserted, all fixed now.

[tomatoskins]

Really cool card idea! Thanks for sharing and welcome to the community!

[mfwoodshop]

Thanks You It really looks like a fun site plan to do more hear