Hello everyone,

Here's the inlay that I cut out yesterday for my wood stand up paddleboard. As you can see, right now it's just cut out and still has to be glued to the backer before inlaying. I also have to cut the eye which I'll do after it's glued down and won't cut the abalone for the eye until it's ready to go in because it's so delicate.

This is te Virgin Islands flag, and the "V" and "I" on the left and right sides of the eagle will be done in abalone inlay. Again I'll do that last because the stuff is very brittle. I am just passing time until I pick up the table saw this weekend so I can finish ripping the strips I need to finish this project. I wanted to thin out the strips for the rails and ran them through the thickness planer and they came out in pieces!!! Have to rip some more. Note to all- when running very expensive mahogany through a thickness planer don't try to run all the strips through at one time! They back up, bend into the blade, and come out in bits and pieces. Patience is a virtue. At least I had patience when cutting all these little pieces for this inlay. I will add details like the claws and outlines for the feathers with a fine brush and some watercolors once it's all glued up.