Thread: Machine vs by hand

I thought I'd show people this because I often get asked which is the best method for marquetry. This is a little caricature frog that I did twice. Body about 40mm long. The one on the left was done using the window method - hand-cut using a scalpel. The one on the right was done a day later using a scroll saw. The same amount of care went into each. I also have roughly the same amount of experience with the scrolls saw as with the scalpel, so I'm confident both have about the same amount of skill input.

I think this sample accurately illustrates the difference in these two methods. Probably if I had only done the machine version I might be reasonably satisfied with it, but put the two alongside and its obvious the extent to which it lacks the finesse of the hand done version. If you look, for example, at the thigh of the extended rear leg of both versions you can easily see the difference - nothing is quite right about the machine-done one.

However, the hand-done one took maybe three times longer to produce.

cheers
Arron

frogsx2.jpg