Marquetry With a Knife

8/17/2019 Marquetry With a Knife

1/5

Workshop on Cutting Marquetry

with a Knife

(18.10.2009)

Introduction

Knife uttings more

commonly sed hansawingor marquetryn

Australia nd he

United

Kingdom,

ecauset requires o special

quipmentndcanbe doneon

a

kitchen

able.

Otheradvantages re hat here s no noiseor dustproducedn the cutting utstage.Safety

is stillan mportant

onsideration,

owever,

ecause f

hesharpnessf he knife

blades.

The

hinveneers

approximately

.6mm) vailablen

Australia

rewell-suited

o this

approach. s in

sawnmarquetry,n

aim

s

o

produce

ork

withno

gaps

betweenhe

oints.

It may requiremanyhours

of

practice

o achieve desiredevel

of skill.Thesenotes

cover

somebasic

oints

nly.

The eferences

isted t he

endaresomeof he many ources

f

further nformation

n all aspects f marquetry.

Veneers

Black Bog

or

en

oak,macassar

bony.

Brown Walnut,

eak,blackbean,ak,silkyoak,elm,

blackwood.

Tan

Purple

Red

Pink

White

Yellow

Burrs

Weatheredycamore,ight

oak, eak,opepe.

Kevasingo,

urpleheart,

ndian osewood.

Padauk,

esternedcedar,makore,mahogany,

apele,

arrah,

Queensland

aple.

Canadian irch,

ear,

acewood,

aboon,

ird's-eye aple, herry,

lm,aspen

Horse hestnut, hite

ycamore,oto, sh,willow,poplar.

lroko,

ntiaris, vodire, atinwood,beche.

Gambola, lm,walnut,

reen

yprus,

mboyna.

SpecialeffectsTamo

sh,zebrano,igured

ak,oliveoak,rosewood,ird's yemaple.

Harewood

Veneers

yed

with

sulphate f

ron,

n shades f silver, late,

ark

grey,etc.

Dyed eneers arious niform right olours reavailable.

Above ist

adapted

ram

Turner

1990:

7).

SelectingVeneers

Whilea scroll awcan

cut

hardveneers

withease, heyare difficult

o cut

with

a

knife.

Even

whencutting gainst

steel uler he knife an end o want o ollow he

grain

ather

han

the

ruler.Repeated

hallow utsare usually ecessaryor bothhardandsoftveneers.

Choosing oftveneerss

one

way

o minimizehe difficulties f cuttingmarquetry ith

a

knife.Examples

f soft o medium eneers

reavodire, eech, enge, irch, utternut,

cherry, arewood,olly, uon

pine,

oto,mahogany,

ear,peroba, oplar, oplar

url,

sapele, assafras,ycamore, alnut seeHobbs ndFitchett 980: 1).A small electionf

easy-to-cuteneersmay

be sufficient

or

many

projects.

Flattening

Veneer

lf the veneer s

buckled nd

will

not stay lat,

spraya

fine mist

of

methylated

firits

on both

sides, hen

press

carefully/gradually)

etween oards nd

paper

owels.Rdpeat f

the

distortions

n the veneer

are

very

pronounced.

ReinforcingVeneer

Attach

paper

ape

o the op

(finished

ide)of the veneer o

prevent

plitting nd breakage,

especiallylonghegrain. hiscanbe used or argepieces f backgroundeneer swell

as or smallernserts. incoln

1980:

4) ecommends

singSellotapen small

pieces.


2/5

Blades

Choices f knives nclude round-handled

raftknife,a carver's nife

or a Swan

Morton

knife.

Mostcuttings donewith

a

fine

pointed

lade, uch

as a

number

1

SwanMorton

soalpel lade. number 1 Xacto

blade s similar. nother

ypeof

blade

with

a curved

dge

is alsousefulor scrapingapeandglue rom hework.Blades anbe embeddednpieces

of

polystyrene

r

corkbetween ses.

Sharpening lades

This

section s rom

he

website

f The Marquetry

ociety

UK):

http: /www.m

arquetrv..

rq/the

m

arquetry kn fe.htm

Of all heskills equiredn

marquetry ithout

oubt,he mainone s

heabilityo cut

accurately.his

skilldepends n maintaining

sharp

point

n heknife. he

point

f he

blade s

he

part

of heknifewhich s used

o cut,not he ong

edgeof heblade. o maintain

this

point

he blade s sharpenedn a finecarborundumtone r oilstone, sshown elow:

Ser{er

fn*rtv

sfHtrJatunw

Ft*rts'

sifr,of

frhde

O{tstmrl

The

backof he

blade

s

appliedo thestone

nd

ubbedn

a straightine o remove

ny

burrs

r

hooks

n he ip.

This

will

progressively

ove he

cuttingip down he blade.

NEVER

ry o sharpen

he beveled utting dge,

ou

will

notbe able o compete

ith he

manufacturer

ork

evenly ver he surface f

your

carborundum

tone

and ry

not

o weara

groove

n t.A cheaper

lternatives to usemedium

lothbacked arborundum

heet

lued

to a

piece

f wood.

ives

1995:

-7) ecommends

sing 0

grit

ollowed

y

180

or 200grit

emery

aper.l

In

order o make

a

finer

cutandallow he blade

o be removed

asily

rom

he

wood,

he

shoulder

etweenhe cutting

dgeand hebackof he

blade

s

also

ground

own

giving

morestreamlined ffect.

Scroll aw ndMarquetry

pecialnterest

roup ACTWoodcraft

Guild


3/5

Applying

he Design

Many

people

rawa design n racing

aper

nd

ransferhedesign

with

4H

or similar

pencil,

r a metal tylus)o the backof heveneer

sing lack arbon

aper

r

greygraphite

paper

from

art shops). lternatively,

designon white

paper

can

be

glued

glue

stick) o the

theveneer.f the design son the back t will need o be drawn n reverse. aperpatterns

attached itha

glue

stick

glue

on he

paper

only,not he veneer)

may

peel

off airlyeasily.

CuttingTwo

Piecesat Once

1. For

simple esigns here

only wo

veneers

reneeded, uch

as

or

a backgammon

board,

a

knife

can cut he wo veneers

t the same ime.Thiswill

produce

wo inished

pieces,

nea

'negative'

of the other.The sunburst nd

cat designsor hisworkshop

re

suitableor his

method.

2. The wo veneers

houldbe aped ogetherirst,withSellotape

r

masking

apearound

the

edges.

The

cutting

roceeds

y making epeated,

verlappinghallow uts.Avoid

making

eavy utsas his makes t harder

o

follow

he

pattern

ine.

3. For arge

pieces,

t may

be

preferable

o cut only

part

way

hrough he second eneer

before eparatinghe

wo

ayers

to avoidcutting livers rom he

second

iece

f

the

angleof the cut changes. he

second

iece

s thencompletedollowing

he

partially

ut

line.Thewindowmethod

see

below).alsoses

a shallow.knifeut o

mark

outa

piece

o

be nsertedn a'window'.

4. When

he cutting

s

completed, ssemblehe

pieces,

ecurewith

apeon he ront,and

rub PVA

glue

nto

he

oints

rom he

back.

Turn

over,

make

sureall

pieces pushed

downso that he back s leveland, f necessary,

ress

betweenweighted oardswith

wax

paper

on eachsideof the marquetry.

5. When

he

glue

dries, he marquetry ill be ready or

gluing

o a backing oard, uchas

9mmor 12mmmdf

or

plywood.

Remove

ll Sellotape r masking

apebefore

luing

on

to a board it can be very

difficulto

remove

fter

pressing.

The Marquetry

Society's

UK)

Advice

on

Knife Gutting

Sou ce http //www. arquetrv.

rg/themarq etrv knife. tm

We

always uggesthat

you

start

by

cutting

simple]

hapes.Carefully heck

your

est

pieces

or any major aults n order o correct our echniqueor yourprojectwork.

1.

lf the

pieces

are a

very oose

it withsignificant

aps

all

round,

heck hat

you

kept he

knife n close

contact

with

he emplate uringmarking

nd hen

ollow

hatsameknife

mark

duringhesubsequentutting

ut .

2. lf the

edgesof the cut are chamfered

sloping)

heckhow

you

hold

he

knife.

Many

people

old heknifeas heywould

a

pen,

n

a sloping

osition.

oumust earn

o

roll

the wristover o keep

he

knife

bladesquare o the work o

produce

square ut.

3.

lf

you

are cutting mall

pieces,

r apered nds, einforcinghe veneer irstwith

paper

tapewillhelp.Although

he

woodmay

stillbreak p, he apewillhold

he

veneer

together careful andling ill keep

t togethef ntil t can be itted

and

glued

nto

inal

Scroll aw ndMarquetry

pecial

nterest

roup ACTWoodcraft

Guild


4/5

position.

o not emovehe reinforcing

apeuntilthe

lue

hasdried

15

minutes)

r t will

allfallapart

4.

lf

you

are indingt hard

o see

where

ou

have

raced he

ine

hroughhewindow,

coatof paperapemakes hecuttinginemuchmore isible.

5. lf the woodappearso split

easily,

make

sure hat

you

do

not

use oo much

pressure

n

the

knife o

try o

cut

oo

quickly.

hissevers hewoodalong

he

ibres nstead

f cutting

through hem. t is

better o useseveral ontrolled trokeswith

ower

pressure

n

he

blade.

The Window

Method

. Themost

commonechnique

or

making

marquetry

s hewindowmethod.t is

suited

or

bothsimple ndcomplex esigns.

s

lves

1995:

) describest,

"

...

this

means

tarting

witha wastesheetof veneeror cardboard

nd

cutting

he

shapeof

one

piece

rom

his.A

piece f heselected ood splaced nder he opening r"window"ndcut round sing he

edge

of he

window s

a

guide.

Each

andevery

iece

s

cutand itted n hisway."

Thewindow

method, onewell, an

produce

oints

without

aps.

t

alsoenableshe maker

to

choose he

most

suitable rientation nd

positioning

f the

grain

or figure n

the

veneer,

y

viewing

t

throughhewindow

Robin

Cromer illbe

discussins

hewindowmethod,

A

website n

the

windowmethods: http:l/www.woodezine.comi03_2005/0305_marquetry.html

Examplesof Marquetry

Thereare manyexamples

f

marquetry

n he web.

A

good

starting

oint

s:

http://www.marquetry.orglheMarquetry

ociety's

UK)

home

page:

lickon'allgalleries'

at the

eft

of the

page

or

pictures

f

marquetry

ork.

Sourcesof MarquetryDesigns

Simple lipartdesignsmay

provide

deas or nitialtest

ieces

nd

projects.

References

Hobbs,

Harry

J and Fitchett, llanE.

(editors)

980.ModernMarquetry andbook. hames

andHudson.

lves,Ernie1995.

Marquetry

or

Beginners,pswich: he Marquetry

ociety

4tn

dition).

Lincoln,WilliamA. 1992.TheMarquetryManual,

Hereford: tobbartDavies td.

*Middleton,

David

and

Townsend,

lan 1993.Marquetry echniques,ondon:Batsford

Turner,Roy 1997.TheMagicWorld

of

Marquetry,

elbourne: he

Marquetry ociety f

Victoria.

*ln

the Guild's

ibrary.

Don

Rowland.

ctober 009

Scroll aw ndMarquetry pecialnterest

roup

ACTWoodcraft

Guild


5/5

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DonRowland.October 009

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Marquetry With a Knife