I want to veneer a desk or stationery box with a basket weave pattern. Ordinarily when doing a project such as a checkerboard pattern I would line up the dark and light pieces next to each other, tape them together, and then crosscut the pieces into strips that would then have the alternating colors. This is relatively easy because you are dealing with square pieces all running in the same direction.
I cannot figure out a similar process for a basket weave pattern because of the crisscross pattern of verticals and horizontals. I’m planning to use ribbon grained sapele veneer in pieces one inch wide by two inches long. When laying the veneer, the T intersections formed by the verticals and the horizontals will be highlighted by four smaller square pieces of black veneer (one half inch by one half inch) inserted into each of the corners. See design sample in attachment.
I know that I can cut each piece individually and then tape them together in the desired pattern. I’m worried though that the slightest discrepancy wherever it appears will throw off the entire balance of the pattern. I would prefer putting somewhat larger pieces together and then trimming a straight line along an entire strip to an exact dimension, but the basket weave pattern does not have continuous straight strips.
How would you approach the problem?
Replies
Great question and great project!
Usually I can think of at least one solution off the top of my head but this one has got me a little stumped. The photo helps, though, and I'm sure I can drum up a few suggestions today.
A couple of things to ponder until then:
1. If you were to assemble each piece individually, couldn't you cut the parts in bulk to ensure that every piece is consistently sized?
2. In my experience, taping the veneer together is somewhat forgiving (although time consuming). When patterns begin to veer of course I can usually stretch or squish pieces to get the pattern back on track. This leaves some minor inconsistencies but they're usually hard to detect once the veneer is glued to the core.
I'll write back soon...
Matt
Matt - when you say to cut the pieces in bulk do you mean cutting a stack of pieces at the same time? I've never tried that before. Seems like it would be even more difficult when cutting across the grain. I'll do some experimenting with that.
It is possible to cut veneer for marquetry in bulk. I've seen it done using an old stacking method from the 18th century. We actually have a video demonstration of it here.
These days people use a scroll saw. And while I've never seen it done on the bandsaw or tablesaw, I don't see why those tools wouldn't work to acheive the straight edges you're after.
Matt
My recommendation would be to cut the strips one piece at a time, using a template to set the dimensions. This is the same process used for cutting chess boards. This method is more accurate than stack cutting, and a lot more accurate than using power saws. I will try to describe the template method.
I make a template out of mdf that is the same width as the strips. You will also need a straight edged fence. Push the veneer against the fence. Place the template on top of the veneer and push it against the fence also. Put pressure down on the template to hold it securely over the veneer. Now saw (with a veneer saw) or knife cut the other edge of veneer using the edge of the template as a guide. Check each piece for consistency. This may sound slow but it goes pretty quickly in practice. In your pattern, you will need three templates: Strip width, Strip length, and black square width. You will also need to rig a way to squarely cut the strips to length. The same concepts describe above will work.
You can adjust the dimensions by adjusting the width of each template until you get the fit correct. Don't worry about small gaps. The glue will fill them in. Some people also shade the ends of the strips to create a shadow look. This will also hide minor gaps, but you must deal with the change in dimensions created by the hot sand. (I rub the piece with moistened fingers after shading and then put it under a block of mdf to dry.) Any minor variations from perfection in your dimensions can be monitored as you assemble the panel. Just keep things straight and square as you go.
Good luck. With a little practice, your layout will look great.
Tom.
Thank you, Tom. After a lot more thought and attempts at a strip method or even partial strip method I, too, concluded that the only way is to assemble it piece by piece.I did have very good luck in assembling stacks of 10 layers of veneer sandwiched between top and bottom layers of quarter-inch MDF and the whole stack taped together. I could then rip strips 1-inch wide. I then added more tape around the area where I would next cross cut the long 1-inch strips into 2-inch lengths. It took a bit of fussing to get the 2-inch dimension precisely double the 1-inch dimension so there would be a tight fit. The stacks came out with flush edges and no tearout so I cut the all individual pieces I needed without much trouble. Cross-cutting the 1/2-inch pieces afain called for fussing to get the half inch dimension exactly half of the 1-inch dimension. Cross-cutting the small one-half inch square pieces was a bit of a safety problem until I rigged up a larger push pad that trapped the narrow stock and made it safe to guide the stock through the cross-cut.When assembling the practice piece there were a few very slight gaps. I thnk the gaps were due to the cross-cuts varying ever so slightly from square due to occasional slight movement in the miter gauge. My next step is to glue the veneer I've taped and assembled into the basket weave pattern onto a substrate so I can see if the gaps will (as you suggest) fade away as they are filled with glue. Thanks for the encouragement that they will not be a problem.Because of family plans I won't get to this next step for a few days, however. I appreciate your response.
Larry,FYI, there is a very good book on marquetry in general called "The Marquetry Course" by Jack Metcalfe and John Apps. They describe their process for the basket weave pattern in detail. I just looked it up after reading your response to me. It is on page 81. They also describe the chess board process starting on page 76. This book is an excellent reference.Again, good luck. Tom.
Thank you, Tom. I'll look that up.
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