Sourcing marquetry veneers
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Kim Christie
Those butterflies are just wonderful. I'm just starting try out marquetry but am having some trouble finding anyone selling collections rather than single sheets, too big and too expensive.
Can you recommend any good suppliers?
Thanks, regards Kim.
Not easy sourcing materials I'm afraid. You could ring around producers asking what they do with their offcuts. Likewise end users like custom furniture makers may have some for sale - when they buy veneer they would typically buy a bundle of sequential leaves, so if there are leaves left over at the end they aren't much use so may be sold as 'bundle ends'. In either case you would have to pick them up yourself.
You can buy marquetry packs from many sources. If you are doing window method (ie cutting by knife or scalpel) then avoid aussie ones as they are probably dominated by local hardwood which are too hard and splitty. If using a scrollsaw then it probably doesn't matter. Generally, you are better off going for ones with a preponderance of good easy-cutting marquetry timbers like sycamore, tulipier, koto, pearwood or boxwood. These will only be from overseas. In many cases 'marquetry packs' are just vendors selling off their rubbish offcuts so avoid these. A lot of success with marquetry comes down to choosing the right timbers, so if you get stuff like jarrah or blackwood or Tassie oak then you are making something simple very hard for yourself.
Probably you could do a lot by buying just some rock maple for backgrounds and reverse sides, and blackheart sassafras and qld walnut (the latter two because each sheet yields many different hues. Sassi is very easy to work too). You probably don't absolutely need that many species. You also don't need premium veneer, as you will tend to cut around the knots and flaws. You can ask about 'backer veneer', which is second grade stuff pressed onto the back of veneered panels where it is unseen and is much cheaper.
Generally, though, its best just to bite the bullet and buy from overseas. Postage is a killer - though it'll still work out way cheaper then sourcing from any local supplier for all but the plainest veneers.
I use these people for burls and highly figured timber. I have bought a lot from them and its all first class product. Good customer service : Exotic Wood Veneer, Vacuum Press Systems, Veneering Tools and Veneering Supplies I also notice they do marquetry packs at $28 for 50 sq ft. Also check their clearance area because most of it is more then good enough for marquetry. Shipping takes about 7 - 10 calendar days.
I recently bought dyed veneer from these people. Nice product and very good customer service : Dyed Veneers
Here's their marquetry packs - $1 a sq is foot dearer then the above but still OK : Wood Veneer Mixtures
Both of these companies sound like big businesses but are in fact just husband and wife concerns and very personable and DIY friendly.
I don't think I've yet bought on-line from a local supplier and not been disappointed.
So summing up, I guess if I was starting out I would buy some sheets of rock maple from a local supplier (Briggs veneer has a $100 minimum order) and use that for 90% of backgrounds and for backers. Then I'd say 'to hell with the cost of postage' and buy from overseas a few sheets of dyed red, green and black veneer, and 30 or 50 sq feet of the marquetry packs mentioned above to give me lots of variety and that would have me set for quite a few years.
cheers
Arron
ps. one thing you could do if buying from overseas, which I've never had success with but is worth a try, is pointing out when you order that you want it for marquetry so you are just going to be chopping it up small anyway - so why cant they chop it up into A4 sizes and put it in a prepaid satchel ? Should be much cheaper postage because generally they overpackage it hugely and that may very well add to the cost of postage.