Saw cut marquetry

[mark david]

I have been working in mainly solid timber for the last few years but a recent acquisition of a large quantity of veneer has rekindled an interest I had over 20 years ago.

In the late 1980's I managed to teach myself how to do hand sawn marquetry work with a small 12" framed hand held fret saw.my attempts were successful, but only actually made one piece incorporating sawn marquetry panels.

I recently made myself a home made fretsaw in a similar vain to the 18th century marquetry donkey or Chevalet de Marqeterie as it was better known in France.I will post some pictures of this later.

Anyway I have attached some pictures of some of my first attempts at marquetry with it.Anyone who has attempted it will know it is quite tricky and some skill is required to manouvre the work around the blade with any accuracy especially with one hand as the other is required to operate the saw not to mention good eyesight although needing glasses for the close-up work these days.

I am using the jewellers pierceing saw blades and the double bevel technique which eliminates any saw kerf and have the saw set at 15 degree angle.I have made a few mistakes here and there but the accuracy seems to be improving.

[FenceFurniture]

That's thoroughly excellent work Mark! Look forward to seeing what it goes on to.

[DSEL74]

I am using the jewellers pierceing saw blades and the double bevel technique which eliminates any saw kerf and have the saw set at 15 degree angle.



18th century marquetry donkey or Chevalet de Marqeterie as it was better known in France.




Can you explain these more please?

Do you stack two sheets and cut as one?



My pack of sheets arrive yesterday and I'd like to do some marquetry and incorporate it into my future tool cabinet.

[mark david]

Hi I should point out that I am using the thin 0.6 mm commercially available veneer but thicker veneer can also be used .

The cutting angle depends also on the blades being used, there are a huge variety of piercing saw blades available and they go from size 10 (the thickest) to 8-0 (the thinnest)
I started using size #5 which are really too thick for most marquetry use but am now using size #1.The attached chart gives some idea that I am using a mid range one which.I am not a great fan of the super thin ones as they are extremely fragile and can be tricky to follow a line with.

I am usually taping three layers together, my top layer which is the veneer I want to the the inlay, underneath is the ground and then a waster veneer on the bottom.Most people using this technique actually use 4 sheets of veneer and discard the top and bottom sheets after cutting.

Personally I glue the design to the top veneer, am using PVA rolled thinly on the paper design so just enough to glue it to the veneer but if you are worried about residue use animal glue or something similar.

With the centre island pices start by drilling a small hole which will be a start/finish point, I just use a small panel or veneer pin in an electric drill, dont forget to angle it.
Make sure you start cutting in the correct direction as you want to middle veneer pice to be larger than the piece you are cutting out of the face veneer.
Things are a bit different when you start cutting the outside of the design as you are now cutting so that the whole top design drops into the middle veneer.Don't angle the saw the wrong way as I did a few days ago or you will need create a gap twice the thickness of your blade instead of cancelling it out.

Depending on the design you may need to assemble the pieces as you go or it can all just fall to bits.
Just collect the 3 pices of veneer as you cut them out and take out the middle bit, which you now glue into the top layer from the back, carefully apply pva to the very edge only then just put the other two pices back into the whole aswell, but dont glue these just put a bit of veneer tape over them to stop them falling out and this keeps the project flat as you procede to cut further pieces.

Check out You tube as there are loads of great videos about traditional marquetry cutting.


Can you explain these more please?

Do you stack two sheets and cut as one?



My pack of sheets arrive yesterday and I'd like to do some marquetry and incorporate it into my future tool cabinet.

[mark david]

For anyone into marquetry here is an update to my Post from yesterday.

I have attached some photos of my homemade marquetry "Donkey" I think I might call it a marquetry Kangaroo.
it is quite different from a traditional donkey or chevalet de marqeterie and frame saw designs.
I made a similar one years ago but was less sophisticated and didn't work terribly well (it was infact terrible)

This machine has a good sized throat at around 600mm but there is an extension bar at the back to give it a 100cm radius and the arc gives the blade some forward movement and not just up and down.The extra timber on the back is if I want to add some counterweight to it.
It is still however hand operated so you need to manouvre the work around the blade with on hand.

The frame of the saw is set at 15 degrees for double bevel cutting but can be adjusted as can the height of the table.
The stainless steel trolley came from a scrapyard for a few dollars that had been sitting around for a while and makes a great set of bones for building the saw.

The frame of the saw has guides top and bottom and keeps everything rigid and precise.I suppose the operation could be modified with a treadle operation but personally prefer it as it is.

I have also attached my latest piece of marquetry cut during today (probably took 3-4 hours or so) which I think is my best work to date,this is viewed from the back as the front is still covered in paper and tape until it is used in a project.
This was quite a tricky piece with lots of island pieces to cut out.I glued them in as I went along as the whole thing gets very fragile if you try to assembly them all at the end of cutting.

[Christos]

That's quite extraordinary.

[Simplicity]

Fantastic work.
And thank you for a fantastic write up.
It's one of those things I always seem to want to have a go at .
But never seem to tho ,as you pointed out ,there are some great youtube clips.
The designs were they yours ? or did you obtain them from else were.?

Matt

[mark david]

Got the designs from a website called craftsmanspace.com



QUOTE=Simplicity;1854992]Fantastic work.
And thank you for a fantastic write up.
It's one of those things I always seem to want to have a go at .
But never seem to tho ,as you pointed out ,there are some great youtube clips.
The designs were they yours ? or did you obtain them from else were.?

Matt[/QUOTE]

[AlexS]

Nice work and a great write-up.
A couple of tips, if I may. Instead of using a waster veneer, you can use cardboard. Saves wasting good veneer.
I use a pin vice (http://www.jaycar.com.au/Tools-%26-Soldering/Hand-Tools/Drill-%26-Socket-Sets/Pin-Vice/p/TH1772) to drill the starter holes.

I like your 'kangaroo', too.