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Marie's Table... A Marquetry Adventure

65K views 266 replies 66 participants last post by  Jim Jakosh 
#1 ·
Where it all Started.

Some of you may remember a couple of months ago I posted a new segment in my blog about marquetry cutting styles describing the "painting in wood" style. Well, once I started cutting the classic French design (pattern in the back of the workbook from ASFM) I started musing about where it might end up. I've made enough boxes and while they were a good venue for some simple marquetry and served well to practice on, my real interest is in bigger projects and more furniture kind of pieces.

To make a long story a little shorter, I decided to go for one of the most common items seen adorned with French marquetry, the writing table. One of the problems you face when you start looking in Pierre Ramond's books to get a feel for what you want to build is that you soon discover that in France, in the days when the chevalet was developed, they put a lot of marquetry on their furniture. I don't mean that the top was completely covered with it (although it would have been) but that every flat surface on the piece was covered with marquetry…...........and some of the curved ones.

The question that always gets me in trouble: How hard can it be?

So I started by designing a nice little writing table with lots of marquetry and it just sort of snowballed from there. I'm currently at around twelve to thirteen hundred pieces and I haven't started assembling the table yet.

Here are a few photos to get you up to speed.

This is a sketch I made several months ago, a little musing about making a fancy table in the old French style (of which I know nothing of course). It immediately came to mind when I did the painting in wood piece. The finished table will actually look a lot like it. That's surprising for me because my projects often end up very different from the "concept drawing".



To start with I thought I would cut the "music" motif from the painting in wood segment above in an ellipse and do a leaf garland to set it off.



I decided to do a macassar ebony border around the table top and add elaborate corner marquetry. I matched and mitered the ebony veneer and then stack cut all four corners in four colors in Boulle style. That means the packet was sixteen layers plus 1/8" plywood wasters top and bottom, about 3/4" thick.



If you want things to fit after cutting a packet this thick you had better have a very square blade setup.
This picture shows the check I did to be sure. The piece fitted in the hole in the bottom waster plywood is actually the piece cut out of the top waster piece 3/4" away. This proves that the bottom piece and the top piece are exactly the same size. It took a little adjustment but the built in adjusters on the chevalet handled it perfectly. The piece at the side is one of the ebony layers from the same cut.



This shot shows the layers in the packet. There are four of dyed yellow, four purpleheart, four pale green poplar and four ebony. The Poplar was thicker and caused several problems down the road.



There are something like two hundred and sixty-eight pieces in the corner motifs (total).



Here is the rough laid out border with the corners assembled into the background and the central medallion sitting in rough position. The garland has yet to be trimmed to elliptical on the outside.



I think that's enough for one night. I am skipping a lot of little things but this blog will turn out to be long enough as it is. I have a ton of photos of this thing. Next time I'll try to cover the rest of the table top and include a few of the "learning experiences" I was fortunate enough to encounter.

I hope you enjoy this blog half as much as I am enjoying the build. I keep hearing strains of "Fools Rush In" when I'm working on this..????

Thanks for dropping in. Comments, critiques, and especially questions are always welcome.

Paul
 

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#27 ·
Where it all Started.

Some of you may remember a couple of months ago I posted a new segment in my blog about marquetry cutting styles describing the "painting in wood" style. Well, once I started cutting the classic French design (pattern in the back of the workbook from ASFM) I started musing about where it might end up. I've made enough boxes and while they were a good venue for some simple marquetry and served well to practice on, my real interest is in bigger projects and more furniture kind of pieces.

To make a long story a little shorter, I decided to go for one of the most common items seen adorned with French marquetry, the writing table. One of the problems you face when you start looking in Pierre Ramond's books to get a feel for what you want to build is that you soon discover that in France, in the days when the chevalet was developed, they put a lot of marquetry on their furniture. I don't mean that the top was completely covered with it (although it would have been) but that every flat surface on the piece was covered with marquetry…...........and some of the curved ones.

The question that always gets me in trouble: How hard can it be?

So I started by designing a nice little writing table with lots of marquetry and it just sort of snowballed from there. I'm currently at around twelve to thirteen hundred pieces and I haven't started assembling the table yet.

Here are a few photos to get you up to speed.

This is a sketch I made several months ago, a little musing about making a fancy table in the old French style (of which I know nothing of course). It immediately came to mind when I did the painting in wood piece. The finished table will actually look a lot like it. That's surprising for me because my projects often end up very different from the "concept drawing".

Rectangle Wood Parallel Tints and shades Font


To start with I thought I would cut the "music" motif from the painting in wood segment above in an ellipse and do a leaf garland to set it off.

Art Wood Rectangle Creative arts Font


I decided to do a macassar ebony border around the table top and add elaborate corner marquetry. I matched and mitered the ebony veneer and then stack cut all four corners in four colors in Boulle style. That means the packet was sixteen layers plus 1/8" plywood wasters top and bottom, about 3/4" thick.

Dishware Rectangle Wood Eyelash Serveware


If you want things to fit after cutting a packet this thick you had better have a very square blade setup.
This picture shows the check I did to be sure. The piece fitted in the hole in the bottom waster plywood is actually the piece cut out of the top waster piece 3/4" away. This proves that the bottom piece and the top piece are exactly the same size. It took a little adjustment but the built in adjusters on the chevalet handled it perfectly. The piece at the side is one of the ebony layers from the same cut.

Brown Bird Wood Font Art


This shot shows the layers in the packet. There are four of dyed yellow, four purpleheart, four pale green poplar and four ebony. The Poplar was thicker and caused several problems down the road.

Human body Plant Gesture Tree Wood


There are something like two hundred and sixty-eight pieces in the corner motifs (total).

Brown Purple Leaf Textile Rectangle


Here is the rough laid out border with the corners assembled into the background and the central medallion sitting in rough position. The garland has yet to be trimmed to elliptical on the outside.

Wood Creative arts Art Rectangle Circle


I think that's enough for one night. I am skipping a lot of little things but this blog will turn out to be long enough as it is. I have a ton of photos of this thing. Next time I'll try to cover the rest of the table top and include a few of the "learning experiences" I was fortunate enough to encounter.

I hope you enjoy this blog half as much as I am enjoying the build. I keep hearing strains of "Fools Rush In" when I'm working on this..????

Thanks for dropping in. Comments, critiques, and especially questions are always welcome.

Paul
Thanks for the lessons Paul. Very interesting blog. I now have a better understanding of the craft and greater respect for you the artist. Look forward to the next one.
 

Attachments

#28 ·
Where it all Started.

Some of you may remember a couple of months ago I posted a new segment in my blog about marquetry cutting styles describing the "painting in wood" style. Well, once I started cutting the classic French design (pattern in the back of the workbook from ASFM) I started musing about where it might end up. I've made enough boxes and while they were a good venue for some simple marquetry and served well to practice on, my real interest is in bigger projects and more furniture kind of pieces.

To make a long story a little shorter, I decided to go for one of the most common items seen adorned with French marquetry, the writing table. One of the problems you face when you start looking in Pierre Ramond's books to get a feel for what you want to build is that you soon discover that in France, in the days when the chevalet was developed, they put a lot of marquetry on their furniture. I don't mean that the top was completely covered with it (although it would have been) but that every flat surface on the piece was covered with marquetry…...........and some of the curved ones.

The question that always gets me in trouble: How hard can it be?

So I started by designing a nice little writing table with lots of marquetry and it just sort of snowballed from there. I'm currently at around twelve to thirteen hundred pieces and I haven't started assembling the table yet.

Here are a few photos to get you up to speed.

This is a sketch I made several months ago, a little musing about making a fancy table in the old French style (of which I know nothing of course). It immediately came to mind when I did the painting in wood piece. The finished table will actually look a lot like it. That's surprising for me because my projects often end up very different from the "concept drawing".

Rectangle Wood Parallel Tints and shades Font


To start with I thought I would cut the "music" motif from the painting in wood segment above in an ellipse and do a leaf garland to set it off.

Art Wood Rectangle Creative arts Font


I decided to do a macassar ebony border around the table top and add elaborate corner marquetry. I matched and mitered the ebony veneer and then stack cut all four corners in four colors in Boulle style. That means the packet was sixteen layers plus 1/8" plywood wasters top and bottom, about 3/4" thick.

Dishware Rectangle Wood Eyelash Serveware


If you want things to fit after cutting a packet this thick you had better have a very square blade setup.
This picture shows the check I did to be sure. The piece fitted in the hole in the bottom waster plywood is actually the piece cut out of the top waster piece 3/4" away. This proves that the bottom piece and the top piece are exactly the same size. It took a little adjustment but the built in adjusters on the chevalet handled it perfectly. The piece at the side is one of the ebony layers from the same cut.

Brown Bird Wood Font Art


This shot shows the layers in the packet. There are four of dyed yellow, four purpleheart, four pale green poplar and four ebony. The Poplar was thicker and caused several problems down the road.

Human body Plant Gesture Tree Wood


There are something like two hundred and sixty-eight pieces in the corner motifs (total).

Brown Purple Leaf Textile Rectangle


Here is the rough laid out border with the corners assembled into the background and the central medallion sitting in rough position. The garland has yet to be trimmed to elliptical on the outside.

Wood Creative arts Art Rectangle Circle


I think that's enough for one night. I am skipping a lot of little things but this blog will turn out to be long enough as it is. I have a ton of photos of this thing. Next time I'll try to cover the rest of the table top and include a few of the "learning experiences" I was fortunate enough to encounter.

I hope you enjoy this blog half as much as I am enjoying the build. I keep hearing strains of "Fools Rush In" when I'm working on this..????

Thanks for dropping in. Comments, critiques, and especially questions are always welcome.

Paul
Scott, This is the thickest one I've done and the four layers of hard ebony make it tough slogging and blade dulling doesn't take long.
 

Attachments

#29 ·
Where it all Started.

Some of you may remember a couple of months ago I posted a new segment in my blog about marquetry cutting styles describing the "painting in wood" style. Well, once I started cutting the classic French design (pattern in the back of the workbook from ASFM) I started musing about where it might end up. I've made enough boxes and while they were a good venue for some simple marquetry and served well to practice on, my real interest is in bigger projects and more furniture kind of pieces.

To make a long story a little shorter, I decided to go for one of the most common items seen adorned with French marquetry, the writing table. One of the problems you face when you start looking in Pierre Ramond's books to get a feel for what you want to build is that you soon discover that in France, in the days when the chevalet was developed, they put a lot of marquetry on their furniture. I don't mean that the top was completely covered with it (although it would have been) but that every flat surface on the piece was covered with marquetry…...........and some of the curved ones.

The question that always gets me in trouble: How hard can it be?

So I started by designing a nice little writing table with lots of marquetry and it just sort of snowballed from there. I'm currently at around twelve to thirteen hundred pieces and I haven't started assembling the table yet.

Here are a few photos to get you up to speed.

This is a sketch I made several months ago, a little musing about making a fancy table in the old French style (of which I know nothing of course). It immediately came to mind when I did the painting in wood piece. The finished table will actually look a lot like it. That's surprising for me because my projects often end up very different from the "concept drawing".

Rectangle Wood Parallel Tints and shades Font


To start with I thought I would cut the "music" motif from the painting in wood segment above in an ellipse and do a leaf garland to set it off.

Art Wood Rectangle Creative arts Font


I decided to do a macassar ebony border around the table top and add elaborate corner marquetry. I matched and mitered the ebony veneer and then stack cut all four corners in four colors in Boulle style. That means the packet was sixteen layers plus 1/8" plywood wasters top and bottom, about 3/4" thick.

Dishware Rectangle Wood Eyelash Serveware


If you want things to fit after cutting a packet this thick you had better have a very square blade setup.
This picture shows the check I did to be sure. The piece fitted in the hole in the bottom waster plywood is actually the piece cut out of the top waster piece 3/4" away. This proves that the bottom piece and the top piece are exactly the same size. It took a little adjustment but the built in adjusters on the chevalet handled it perfectly. The piece at the side is one of the ebony layers from the same cut.

Brown Bird Wood Font Art


This shot shows the layers in the packet. There are four of dyed yellow, four purpleheart, four pale green poplar and four ebony. The Poplar was thicker and caused several problems down the road.

Human body Plant Gesture Tree Wood


There are something like two hundred and sixty-eight pieces in the corner motifs (total).

Brown Purple Leaf Textile Rectangle


Here is the rough laid out border with the corners assembled into the background and the central medallion sitting in rough position. The garland has yet to be trimmed to elliptical on the outside.

Wood Creative arts Art Rectangle Circle


I think that's enough for one night. I am skipping a lot of little things but this blog will turn out to be long enough as it is. I have a ton of photos of this thing. Next time I'll try to cover the rest of the table top and include a few of the "learning experiences" I was fortunate enough to encounter.

I hope you enjoy this blog half as much as I am enjoying the build. I keep hearing strains of "Fools Rush In" when I'm working on this..????

Thanks for dropping in. Comments, critiques, and especially questions are always welcome.

Paul
Paul thanks for sharing your journey in building this table with us here on LJ's. I'm sure this is going to be a fantastic outcome, and by the way I think I am just going to start calling you Davinci :)
 

Attachments

#30 ·
Where it all Started.

Some of you may remember a couple of months ago I posted a new segment in my blog about marquetry cutting styles describing the "painting in wood" style. Well, once I started cutting the classic French design (pattern in the back of the workbook from ASFM) I started musing about where it might end up. I've made enough boxes and while they were a good venue for some simple marquetry and served well to practice on, my real interest is in bigger projects and more furniture kind of pieces.

To make a long story a little shorter, I decided to go for one of the most common items seen adorned with French marquetry, the writing table. One of the problems you face when you start looking in Pierre Ramond's books to get a feel for what you want to build is that you soon discover that in France, in the days when the chevalet was developed, they put a lot of marquetry on their furniture. I don't mean that the top was completely covered with it (although it would have been) but that every flat surface on the piece was covered with marquetry…...........and some of the curved ones.

The question that always gets me in trouble: How hard can it be?

So I started by designing a nice little writing table with lots of marquetry and it just sort of snowballed from there. I'm currently at around twelve to thirteen hundred pieces and I haven't started assembling the table yet.

Here are a few photos to get you up to speed.

This is a sketch I made several months ago, a little musing about making a fancy table in the old French style (of which I know nothing of course). It immediately came to mind when I did the painting in wood piece. The finished table will actually look a lot like it. That's surprising for me because my projects often end up very different from the "concept drawing".

Rectangle Wood Parallel Tints and shades Font


To start with I thought I would cut the "music" motif from the painting in wood segment above in an ellipse and do a leaf garland to set it off.

Art Wood Rectangle Creative arts Font


I decided to do a macassar ebony border around the table top and add elaborate corner marquetry. I matched and mitered the ebony veneer and then stack cut all four corners in four colors in Boulle style. That means the packet was sixteen layers plus 1/8" plywood wasters top and bottom, about 3/4" thick.

Dishware Rectangle Wood Eyelash Serveware


If you want things to fit after cutting a packet this thick you had better have a very square blade setup.
This picture shows the check I did to be sure. The piece fitted in the hole in the bottom waster plywood is actually the piece cut out of the top waster piece 3/4" away. This proves that the bottom piece and the top piece are exactly the same size. It took a little adjustment but the built in adjusters on the chevalet handled it perfectly. The piece at the side is one of the ebony layers from the same cut.

Brown Bird Wood Font Art


This shot shows the layers in the packet. There are four of dyed yellow, four purpleheart, four pale green poplar and four ebony. The Poplar was thicker and caused several problems down the road.

Human body Plant Gesture Tree Wood


There are something like two hundred and sixty-eight pieces in the corner motifs (total).

Brown Purple Leaf Textile Rectangle


Here is the rough laid out border with the corners assembled into the background and the central medallion sitting in rough position. The garland has yet to be trimmed to elliptical on the outside.

Wood Creative arts Art Rectangle Circle


I think that's enough for one night. I am skipping a lot of little things but this blog will turn out to be long enough as it is. I have a ton of photos of this thing. Next time I'll try to cover the rest of the table top and include a few of the "learning experiences" I was fortunate enough to encounter.

I hope you enjoy this blog half as much as I am enjoying the build. I keep hearing strains of "Fools Rush In" when I'm working on this..????

Thanks for dropping in. Comments, critiques, and especially questions are always welcome.

Paul
Paul,

Your table is breath-taking! We can't wait to see the rest of it! Your blogs are always so informative and for those of us who will never achieve your level of artistry, we can be blessed to experience it vicariously through your photos and descriptions.

Thanks for taking the time to share. (And thanks for keeping the posts not-too-long since they take a long time to load on dial-up.) :-(

L/W
 

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#31 ·
Where it all Started.

Some of you may remember a couple of months ago I posted a new segment in my blog about marquetry cutting styles describing the "painting in wood" style. Well, once I started cutting the classic French design (pattern in the back of the workbook from ASFM) I started musing about where it might end up. I've made enough boxes and while they were a good venue for some simple marquetry and served well to practice on, my real interest is in bigger projects and more furniture kind of pieces.

To make a long story a little shorter, I decided to go for one of the most common items seen adorned with French marquetry, the writing table. One of the problems you face when you start looking in Pierre Ramond's books to get a feel for what you want to build is that you soon discover that in France, in the days when the chevalet was developed, they put a lot of marquetry on their furniture. I don't mean that the top was completely covered with it (although it would have been) but that every flat surface on the piece was covered with marquetry…...........and some of the curved ones.

The question that always gets me in trouble: How hard can it be?

So I started by designing a nice little writing table with lots of marquetry and it just sort of snowballed from there. I'm currently at around twelve to thirteen hundred pieces and I haven't started assembling the table yet.

Here are a few photos to get you up to speed.

This is a sketch I made several months ago, a little musing about making a fancy table in the old French style (of which I know nothing of course). It immediately came to mind when I did the painting in wood piece. The finished table will actually look a lot like it. That's surprising for me because my projects often end up very different from the "concept drawing".

Rectangle Wood Parallel Tints and shades Font


To start with I thought I would cut the "music" motif from the painting in wood segment above in an ellipse and do a leaf garland to set it off.

Art Wood Rectangle Creative arts Font


I decided to do a macassar ebony border around the table top and add elaborate corner marquetry. I matched and mitered the ebony veneer and then stack cut all four corners in four colors in Boulle style. That means the packet was sixteen layers plus 1/8" plywood wasters top and bottom, about 3/4" thick.

Dishware Rectangle Wood Eyelash Serveware


If you want things to fit after cutting a packet this thick you had better have a very square blade setup.
This picture shows the check I did to be sure. The piece fitted in the hole in the bottom waster plywood is actually the piece cut out of the top waster piece 3/4" away. This proves that the bottom piece and the top piece are exactly the same size. It took a little adjustment but the built in adjusters on the chevalet handled it perfectly. The piece at the side is one of the ebony layers from the same cut.

Brown Bird Wood Font Art


This shot shows the layers in the packet. There are four of dyed yellow, four purpleheart, four pale green poplar and four ebony. The Poplar was thicker and caused several problems down the road.

Human body Plant Gesture Tree Wood


There are something like two hundred and sixty-eight pieces in the corner motifs (total).

Brown Purple Leaf Textile Rectangle


Here is the rough laid out border with the corners assembled into the background and the central medallion sitting in rough position. The garland has yet to be trimmed to elliptical on the outside.

Wood Creative arts Art Rectangle Circle


I think that's enough for one night. I am skipping a lot of little things but this blog will turn out to be long enough as it is. I have a ton of photos of this thing. Next time I'll try to cover the rest of the table top and include a few of the "learning experiences" I was fortunate enough to encounter.

I hope you enjoy this blog half as much as I am enjoying the build. I keep hearing strains of "Fools Rush In" when I'm working on this..????

Thanks for dropping in. Comments, critiques, and especially questions are always welcome.

Paul
Although I never see myself achieving this level of craftsmanship and mastery of advanced woodworking such as marquetry , it is inspirational to watch someone with the talent,the vision and the artistry to accomplish this level of sheer beauty ! Will continue to watch in amazement and awe of what will obviously be an instant masterpiece for sure ! Thanks for the front row view and description of a Master at work. ROB
 

Attachments

#32 ·
Where it all Started.

Some of you may remember a couple of months ago I posted a new segment in my blog about marquetry cutting styles describing the "painting in wood" style. Well, once I started cutting the classic French design (pattern in the back of the workbook from ASFM) I started musing about where it might end up. I've made enough boxes and while they were a good venue for some simple marquetry and served well to practice on, my real interest is in bigger projects and more furniture kind of pieces.

To make a long story a little shorter, I decided to go for one of the most common items seen adorned with French marquetry, the writing table. One of the problems you face when you start looking in Pierre Ramond's books to get a feel for what you want to build is that you soon discover that in France, in the days when the chevalet was developed, they put a lot of marquetry on their furniture. I don't mean that the top was completely covered with it (although it would have been) but that every flat surface on the piece was covered with marquetry…...........and some of the curved ones.

The question that always gets me in trouble: How hard can it be?

So I started by designing a nice little writing table with lots of marquetry and it just sort of snowballed from there. I'm currently at around twelve to thirteen hundred pieces and I haven't started assembling the table yet.

Here are a few photos to get you up to speed.

This is a sketch I made several months ago, a little musing about making a fancy table in the old French style (of which I know nothing of course). It immediately came to mind when I did the painting in wood piece. The finished table will actually look a lot like it. That's surprising for me because my projects often end up very different from the "concept drawing".

Rectangle Wood Parallel Tints and shades Font


To start with I thought I would cut the "music" motif from the painting in wood segment above in an ellipse and do a leaf garland to set it off.

Art Wood Rectangle Creative arts Font


I decided to do a macassar ebony border around the table top and add elaborate corner marquetry. I matched and mitered the ebony veneer and then stack cut all four corners in four colors in Boulle style. That means the packet was sixteen layers plus 1/8" plywood wasters top and bottom, about 3/4" thick.

Dishware Rectangle Wood Eyelash Serveware


If you want things to fit after cutting a packet this thick you had better have a very square blade setup.
This picture shows the check I did to be sure. The piece fitted in the hole in the bottom waster plywood is actually the piece cut out of the top waster piece 3/4" away. This proves that the bottom piece and the top piece are exactly the same size. It took a little adjustment but the built in adjusters on the chevalet handled it perfectly. The piece at the side is one of the ebony layers from the same cut.

Brown Bird Wood Font Art


This shot shows the layers in the packet. There are four of dyed yellow, four purpleheart, four pale green poplar and four ebony. The Poplar was thicker and caused several problems down the road.

Human body Plant Gesture Tree Wood


There are something like two hundred and sixty-eight pieces in the corner motifs (total).

Brown Purple Leaf Textile Rectangle


Here is the rough laid out border with the corners assembled into the background and the central medallion sitting in rough position. The garland has yet to be trimmed to elliptical on the outside.

Wood Creative arts Art Rectangle Circle


I think that's enough for one night. I am skipping a lot of little things but this blog will turn out to be long enough as it is. I have a ton of photos of this thing. Next time I'll try to cover the rest of the table top and include a few of the "learning experiences" I was fortunate enough to encounter.

I hope you enjoy this blog half as much as I am enjoying the build. I keep hearing strains of "Fools Rush In" when I'm working on this..????

Thanks for dropping in. Comments, critiques, and especially questions are always welcome.

Paul
I have that same pattern, having gotten it from ASFM as well. I was in the first class there. I used piece by piece (separate packets) method for this design. Apparently, photos can't be fitted here. Go to my website to see the pattern as a jewelry box. <www>

Ken Stover
 

Attachments

#33 ·
Where it all Started.

Some of you may remember a couple of months ago I posted a new segment in my blog about marquetry cutting styles describing the "painting in wood" style. Well, once I started cutting the classic French design (pattern in the back of the workbook from ASFM) I started musing about where it might end up. I've made enough boxes and while they were a good venue for some simple marquetry and served well to practice on, my real interest is in bigger projects and more furniture kind of pieces.

To make a long story a little shorter, I decided to go for one of the most common items seen adorned with French marquetry, the writing table. One of the problems you face when you start looking in Pierre Ramond's books to get a feel for what you want to build is that you soon discover that in France, in the days when the chevalet was developed, they put a lot of marquetry on their furniture. I don't mean that the top was completely covered with it (although it would have been) but that every flat surface on the piece was covered with marquetry…...........and some of the curved ones.

The question that always gets me in trouble: How hard can it be?

So I started by designing a nice little writing table with lots of marquetry and it just sort of snowballed from there. I'm currently at around twelve to thirteen hundred pieces and I haven't started assembling the table yet.

Here are a few photos to get you up to speed.

This is a sketch I made several months ago, a little musing about making a fancy table in the old French style (of which I know nothing of course). It immediately came to mind when I did the painting in wood piece. The finished table will actually look a lot like it. That's surprising for me because my projects often end up very different from the "concept drawing".

Rectangle Wood Parallel Tints and shades Font


To start with I thought I would cut the "music" motif from the painting in wood segment above in an ellipse and do a leaf garland to set it off.

Art Wood Rectangle Creative arts Font


I decided to do a macassar ebony border around the table top and add elaborate corner marquetry. I matched and mitered the ebony veneer and then stack cut all four corners in four colors in Boulle style. That means the packet was sixteen layers plus 1/8" plywood wasters top and bottom, about 3/4" thick.

Dishware Rectangle Wood Eyelash Serveware


If you want things to fit after cutting a packet this thick you had better have a very square blade setup.
This picture shows the check I did to be sure. The piece fitted in the hole in the bottom waster plywood is actually the piece cut out of the top waster piece 3/4" away. This proves that the bottom piece and the top piece are exactly the same size. It took a little adjustment but the built in adjusters on the chevalet handled it perfectly. The piece at the side is one of the ebony layers from the same cut.

Brown Bird Wood Font Art


This shot shows the layers in the packet. There are four of dyed yellow, four purpleheart, four pale green poplar and four ebony. The Poplar was thicker and caused several problems down the road.

Human body Plant Gesture Tree Wood


There are something like two hundred and sixty-eight pieces in the corner motifs (total).

Brown Purple Leaf Textile Rectangle


Here is the rough laid out border with the corners assembled into the background and the central medallion sitting in rough position. The garland has yet to be trimmed to elliptical on the outside.

Wood Creative arts Art Rectangle Circle


I think that's enough for one night. I am skipping a lot of little things but this blog will turn out to be long enough as it is. I have a ton of photos of this thing. Next time I'll try to cover the rest of the table top and include a few of the "learning experiences" I was fortunate enough to encounter.

I hope you enjoy this blog half as much as I am enjoying the build. I keep hearing strains of "Fools Rush In" when I'm working on this..????

Thanks for dropping in. Comments, critiques, and especially questions are always welcome.

Paul
Ken,

To insert photos into comment posts, simply click on the img button above the text entry window and browse to the photo (on your local computer or enter a URL for the actual photo, not the web page it's on…). The only wierd thing is that on my computer it always puts the image at the top of the text entry window. Once you have it there you can move it using cut and paste to other location in the text.

Good Luck!

Herb
 

Attachments

#34 ·
More Marquetry for the Top.

The first photo here is the one the last segment finished off with. I re-post it here because it was at this point that I first noticed that the motif was crooked in the ellipse. In the ASFM workbook it is just a line drawing on a page. I scanned it and retraced it in inkscape to clean it up but didn't notice that it was not straight on the page in the book. So of course, now that I know I can't live with it.

Wood Creative arts Art Rectangle Circle


So here's the solution. First, cut an MDF pattern (white thing) 1/4" smaller all around than the birdseye ellipse.

Window Dishware Picture frame Rectangle Serveware


Second, tilt the pattern to be straight with the motif.

Picture frame Window Dishware Art Serveware


Third, cut it out and discard the trimmed piece of birdseye.

Wood Art Creative arts Circle Clock


And finally, make a bit of rope banding to fill the gap. This photo also shows the border trimmed to size and shape, the four way matched birdseye maple field…. and also segues into the next bit of marquetry.

Art Wood Rectangle Font Circle


You were probably wondering about those huge slashes in the sides and ends where I separated the border pieces in order to stack cut the corners. Well so was I. I decided to add a bit of marquetry that would cover the seams at these spots. The pieces were again stacked and carefully aligned for another stack cut. The difference this time is that the center pieces will be cut separately later so the two halves cut here have to be accurate. This packet has only the ebony and the poplar.

Handwriting Wood Gas Rectangle Font


Alignment is everything here as the banding that will cover the seam between the birdseye field and the Ebony border must be a straight line when it all goes together.

Wood Font Rectangle Art Drawing


Several hours of cutting and assembling later it looked like this. Unfortunately the new bits of marquetry crowded the garland ring a little too much so I decided it would look just lovely on another project. To make matters more interesting, I was not too happy with the "rope" either and was beginning to wonder if the central medallion shouldn't be darker.

Art Wood Rectangle Flooring Font


I'll leave you hanging on that one for tonight but you might just find a clue to what happened next in my tray post.

Next time some changes to a new plan….or not.

Questions, comments, critiques are welcome.

Thanks

Paul
 

Attachments

#35 ·
More Marquetry for the Top.

The first photo here is the one the last segment finished off with. I re-post it here because it was at this point that I first noticed that the motif was crooked in the ellipse. In the ASFM workbook it is just a line drawing on a page. I scanned it and retraced it in inkscape to clean it up but didn't notice that it was not straight on the page in the book. So of course, now that I know I can't live with it.

Wood Creative arts Art Rectangle Circle


So here's the solution. First, cut an MDF pattern (white thing) 1/4" smaller all around than the birdseye ellipse.

Window Dishware Picture frame Rectangle Serveware


Second, tilt the pattern to be straight with the motif.

Picture frame Window Dishware Art Serveware


Third, cut it out and discard the trimmed piece of birdseye.

Wood Art Creative arts Circle Clock


And finally, make a bit of rope banding to fill the gap. This photo also shows the border trimmed to size and shape, the four way matched birdseye maple field…. and also segues into the next bit of marquetry.

Art Wood Rectangle Font Circle


You were probably wondering about those huge slashes in the sides and ends where I separated the border pieces in order to stack cut the corners. Well so was I. I decided to add a bit of marquetry that would cover the seams at these spots. The pieces were again stacked and carefully aligned for another stack cut. The difference this time is that the center pieces will be cut separately later so the two halves cut here have to be accurate. This packet has only the ebony and the poplar.

Handwriting Wood Gas Rectangle Font


Alignment is everything here as the banding that will cover the seam between the birdseye field and the Ebony border must be a straight line when it all goes together.

Wood Font Rectangle Art Drawing


Several hours of cutting and assembling later it looked like this. Unfortunately the new bits of marquetry crowded the garland ring a little too much so I decided it would look just lovely on another project. To make matters more interesting, I was not too happy with the "rope" either and was beginning to wonder if the central medallion shouldn't be darker.

Art Wood Rectangle Flooring Font


I'll leave you hanging on that one for tonight but you might just find a clue to what happened next in my tray post.

Next time some changes to a new plan….or not.

Questions, comments, critiques are welcome.

Thanks

Paul
Paul, That is simply amazing work. I REALLY like the rope trim but you gotta please yourself.
 

Attachments

#54 ·
A Sidetrack and finishing the Tabletop

When the last episode ended our fearless hero was in a quandary. He had ditched the purpleheart garland in favor of a rope band that he didn't like either and was in search of a way to bring some dark color back into the pale interior of the table top. (OK enough third person already) Anyway the decision was to re-cut the "music" motif, this time in the piece by piece or classic method. That would render four identical copies for my trouble and I could use them on other projects. At the same time I needed to make something nice to show to a couple of local galleries so I used one of the motifs to make a simple tray.

Brown Product Sleeve Wood Symbol


That left me three copies, one with a purpleheart field for the table.

Brown Wood Art Font Circle


Which looked like this.

Blue World Wood Flooring Art


It was time to leave this part for a bit and do something else for a while so I assembled the rest of the top and glued it up to the baltic birch substrate. My press isn't big enough to accommodate the whole thing and the hot glue would be cooling before I could assemble everything anyway so….(You may have seen my post when I built the press and wondered what the bar-b-ques were for.) I took my time spreading my glue and making sure my piece was accurately aligned on the substrate and then put half of it in the press with a hot 1/2" aluminium caul on top of it. This re-liquefies the glue and presses at the same time for the best of all possible glue joints.

Wood Flooring Hardwood Rectangle Gas


When the first side cooled I re-heated the caul and pressed the other side whose glue was now stone cold.

Wood Flooring Hardwood Rectangle Wood stain


Then I got to work cutting in the banding between the ebony border and the birdseye field..

Wood Hand tool Table Tool Ruler


A couple of quick jigs and my cheap but wonderful HF trimmer took a bit of the tension out of the task.

Textile Flooring Wood Floor Material property


Then I milled up some tubi (queen ebony) on my big router table.

Automotive tire Wood Gas Bumper Automotive exterior


Glued it on the edges… Oh yes, the time away from thinking about the medallion gave me clarity. I realized that the solution was to go back to the original medallion and tie it to the outer part by using a purpleheart band. Just enough dark in the middle…. Happy at last!

Rectangle Clock Art Font Wood


and added a 1/8" holly band to join the ebonies. In this photo a protective coat of epoxy has been applied.
I'll explain why the epoxy in the next segment.

Rectangle Wood Dishware Art Creative arts


That's enough for me for one go. Next time I'll step away from the progress and use some of the "opportunities" that came up on this table top to explain the marqueteur's greatest nightmare, sanding through. It isn't the end of the world but when you first notice it you would be hard to convince of that.

Thanks for looking in

Questions, comments and critiques always welcome.

Paul.
 

Attachments

#55 ·
A Sidetrack and finishing the Tabletop

When the last episode ended our fearless hero was in a quandary. He had ditched the purpleheart garland in favor of a rope band that he didn't like either and was in search of a way to bring some dark color back into the pale interior of the table top. (OK enough third person already) Anyway the decision was to re-cut the "music" motif, this time in the piece by piece or classic method. That would render four identical copies for my trouble and I could use them on other projects. At the same time I needed to make something nice to show to a couple of local galleries so I used one of the motifs to make a simple tray.

Brown Product Sleeve Wood Symbol


That left me three copies, one with a purpleheart field for the table.

Brown Wood Art Font Circle


Which looked like this.

Blue World Wood Flooring Art


It was time to leave this part for a bit and do something else for a while so I assembled the rest of the top and glued it up to the baltic birch substrate. My press isn't big enough to accommodate the whole thing and the hot glue would be cooling before I could assemble everything anyway so….(You may have seen my post when I built the press and wondered what the bar-b-ques were for.) I took my time spreading my glue and making sure my piece was accurately aligned on the substrate and then put half of it in the press with a hot 1/2" aluminium caul on top of it. This re-liquefies the glue and presses at the same time for the best of all possible glue joints.

Wood Flooring Hardwood Rectangle Gas


When the first side cooled I re-heated the caul and pressed the other side whose glue was now stone cold.

Wood Flooring Hardwood Rectangle Wood stain


Then I got to work cutting in the banding between the ebony border and the birdseye field..

Wood Hand tool Table Tool Ruler


A couple of quick jigs and my cheap but wonderful HF trimmer took a bit of the tension out of the task.

Textile Flooring Wood Floor Material property


Then I milled up some tubi (queen ebony) on my big router table.

Automotive tire Wood Gas Bumper Automotive exterior


Glued it on the edges… Oh yes, the time away from thinking about the medallion gave me clarity. I realized that the solution was to go back to the original medallion and tie it to the outer part by using a purpleheart band. Just enough dark in the middle…. Happy at last!

Rectangle Clock Art Font Wood


and added a 1/8" holly band to join the ebonies. In this photo a protective coat of epoxy has been applied.
I'll explain why the epoxy in the next segment.

Rectangle Wood Dishware Art Creative arts


That's enough for me for one go. Next time I'll step away from the progress and use some of the "opportunities" that came up on this table top to explain the marqueteur's greatest nightmare, sanding through. It isn't the end of the world but when you first notice it you would be hard to convince of that.

Thanks for looking in

Questions, comments and critiques always welcome.

Paul.
well you didn't disappoint Paul, and you did yourself well by making more for other pieces, very frugal of time and energy…if my back could handle the sitting and cutting of these small parts, i would give this discipline a go and have some fun, but ill stay with what i can do and try to be the best at that, thanks for sharing your talent, i enjoy it so much…hows friendship these days…....i hope many a morning is shared with your cup of joe…and sunrises too…..grizz
 

Attachments

#77 ·
The Marqueteur's Nightmare

At the end of the last segment I said that I would do this one on the thing that we who do marquetry, with modern veneers at least, fear most…. sanding through to reveal the substrate. I can show you a picture of what it looks like but there's no way I can tell you what it feels like. Here's what I discovered while very carefully leveling the central medallion of this table with fine sandpaper. I looked at it and said something like "Oh gee whiz, that's really too bad"….. or maybe it was "OH %^&$%%^# !!!", I don't remember.

Plant Tree Art Wood Twig


I mentioned modern veneer. The thing is that back in the 17th century, veneer was sawn and was 1/16" or better thick. Now it's peeled and can be as thin as 1/54". Although 1/32" is still common, more and more 1/42" is showing up and thinner is on the way. That's all fine for sheet veneering in big pieces that don't require any leveling and just need a fine sanding before finishing but when you are trying to do complex marquetry with hundreds of tiny pieces it gets very dicey.

To start with even if you have some thick veneers, the whole thing will have to be taken down to the level of the thinnest. The slightest unevenness of substrate, tiny wood chip under the marquetry or glue buildup can result in what seems to be garbage bin material. Obviously the modern marquetuer would be well advised to learn some damage control skills early on.

Here's how I handled this one. It really helped knowing that I had three back-up motifs. It gave me license to hack away in ways that I may otherwise have been unwilling to try. First I cut pieces of pattern that would cover the areas that were sanded through. There are three ways to handle this.

The first is to replace whole pieces, the best if possible. That's what I'm doing here with the leaves.

The second is to replace parts and hide the joints by aligning grain and cutting on a grain line like the flute.

The third, if you can't do either seamlessly is to create a new piece that separates the piece you have to replace. I couldn't seamlessly replace the burl background here so I added a new leaf that isolated the repair area in the birdseye.

Brown Plant Wood Flower Art


Removing the pieces to be replaced is easy because if you moisten and heat hide glue at once it re-liquefies and the piece can be lifted out.
Brown Plant Leaf Flower Textile


Next the pattern bits were attached and oriented on special purpose packets and cut out.

Wood Art Font Hardwood Flooring


Then the new pieces were glued into the holes where the old ones had been removed. Notice how the bit of birdseye burl that needed to be replaced is now an "island" and doesn't touch any other background.

Leaf Textile Art Terrestrial plant Flower


In the final leveling I left the new pieces ever so slightly proud of the thinnest of the salvaged marquetry to be sure I didn't sand through again and compound the problem.

Wood Organism Art Tints and shades Twig


Next I took the time to complement myself for being so clever and then got back to work. That would be when I noticed another area that needed some attention. The pieces weren't quite level yet and needed just a little more sanding . Then I'd be done…..except the "little more sanding" did this:

Textile Paint Wood Plant Beige


About this time I realized that the whole piece was likely only a few thou thick so I made the same repairs here and covered the whole piece with two coats of epoxy before anything else could disappear. The epoxy also leveled out the tiny discrepancies I had left in the thinnest areas and now you'd never know.

Here are a few more pics that show the second repair. The first shows the area excavated.

Wood Art Circle Tints and shades Pattern


The next shows the pieces glued in. Some are paper re-inforced on the back and what you are seeing is the paper.

Road surface Art Wood Circle Flooring


And the last one shows the repair complete.

Wood Art Circle Tints and shades Painting


I'll finish off with the same shot as I did in the last segment, the epoxy coated and protected finished top.
Art Wood Rectangle Creative arts Font


I guess the moral here is "If life gives you thin veneers, make ….patches."

As a side note, I did the mortises and tenons for the leg / apron joints today and got to see the table standing on her legs for the first time…. and if you liked the top, you'll love the legs. I'm just a grinnin' here.

Thanks for dropping by. Next time I'll get back to the build process and give you your first glimpse of those legs …. or at least part of them.

As always Comments, critiques and especially questions are always welcome.

Paul
 

Attachments

#78 ·
The Marqueteur's Nightmare

At the end of the last segment I said that I would do this one on the thing that we who do marquetry, with modern veneers at least, fear most…. sanding through to reveal the substrate. I can show you a picture of what it looks like but there's no way I can tell you what it feels like. Here's what I discovered while very carefully leveling the central medallion of this table with fine sandpaper. I looked at it and said something like "Oh gee whiz, that's really too bad"….. or maybe it was "OH %^&$%%^# !!!", I don't remember.

Plant Tree Art Wood Twig


I mentioned modern veneer. The thing is that back in the 17th century, veneer was sawn and was 1/16" or better thick. Now it's peeled and can be as thin as 1/54". Although 1/32" is still common, more and more 1/42" is showing up and thinner is on the way. That's all fine for sheet veneering in big pieces that don't require any leveling and just need a fine sanding before finishing but when you are trying to do complex marquetry with hundreds of tiny pieces it gets very dicey.

To start with even if you have some thick veneers, the whole thing will have to be taken down to the level of the thinnest. The slightest unevenness of substrate, tiny wood chip under the marquetry or glue buildup can result in what seems to be garbage bin material. Obviously the modern marquetuer would be well advised to learn some damage control skills early on.

Here's how I handled this one. It really helped knowing that I had three back-up motifs. It gave me license to hack away in ways that I may otherwise have been unwilling to try. First I cut pieces of pattern that would cover the areas that were sanded through. There are three ways to handle this.

The first is to replace whole pieces, the best if possible. That's what I'm doing here with the leaves.

The second is to replace parts and hide the joints by aligning grain and cutting on a grain line like the flute.

The third, if you can't do either seamlessly is to create a new piece that separates the piece you have to replace. I couldn't seamlessly replace the burl background here so I added a new leaf that isolated the repair area in the birdseye.

Brown Plant Wood Flower Art


Removing the pieces to be replaced is easy because if you moisten and heat hide glue at once it re-liquefies and the piece can be lifted out.
Brown Plant Leaf Flower Textile


Next the pattern bits were attached and oriented on special purpose packets and cut out.

Wood Art Font Hardwood Flooring


Then the new pieces were glued into the holes where the old ones had been removed. Notice how the bit of birdseye burl that needed to be replaced is now an "island" and doesn't touch any other background.

Leaf Textile Art Terrestrial plant Flower


In the final leveling I left the new pieces ever so slightly proud of the thinnest of the salvaged marquetry to be sure I didn't sand through again and compound the problem.

Wood Organism Art Tints and shades Twig


Next I took the time to complement myself for being so clever and then got back to work. That would be when I noticed another area that needed some attention. The pieces weren't quite level yet and needed just a little more sanding . Then I'd be done…..except the "little more sanding" did this:

Textile Paint Wood Plant Beige


About this time I realized that the whole piece was likely only a few thou thick so I made the same repairs here and covered the whole piece with two coats of epoxy before anything else could disappear. The epoxy also leveled out the tiny discrepancies I had left in the thinnest areas and now you'd never know.

Here are a few more pics that show the second repair. The first shows the area excavated.

Wood Art Circle Tints and shades Pattern


The next shows the pieces glued in. Some are paper re-inforced on the back and what you are seeing is the paper.

Road surface Art Wood Circle Flooring


And the last one shows the repair complete.

Wood Art Circle Tints and shades Painting


I'll finish off with the same shot as I did in the last segment, the epoxy coated and protected finished top.
Art Wood Rectangle Creative arts Font


I guess the moral here is "If life gives you thin veneers, make ….patches."

As a side note, I did the mortises and tenons for the leg / apron joints today and got to see the table standing on her legs for the first time…. and if you liked the top, you'll love the legs. I'm just a grinnin' here.

Thanks for dropping by. Next time I'll get back to the build process and give you your first glimpse of those legs …. or at least part of them.

As always Comments, critiques and especially questions are always welcome.

Paul
It just keeps getting better & better… astonishing!

Great work!

Thank you!
 

Attachments

#100 ·
Getting the Legs Started.

Back in the first part of this blog I posted this photo and said that the project was going to turn out quite like the "plan". ... but this is a sketch of a leg and just a corner of a table so what goes? Well the answer is that the original idea here was to make a table with really cool legs. The ringed ball idea had just come to me from ??? who knows where but when I sketched it I liked it. Then I added the table and indicated lots of marquetry even on the curved parts.

Rectangle Wood Parallel Tints and shades Font


So lets have a look at how the ringed balls came together. First I glued and squared up some Tubi stock and made a pattern for the copy lathe attachment that came with my old ShopSmith 10ER (1950).

Rectangle Wood Ruler Wood stain Office ruler


This would produce balls exactly 1 3/4" diameter with 3/4" spindles on each end.

Wood Table Rectangle Font Flooring


The piece in the lathe here is a bit of yellow cedar that I used as a trial piece.

Sewing machine Motor vehicle Machine tool Bumper Gas


This is the little gauge I used to check the accuracy of the balls and spindles. I left the balls just a hair oversize so the rings could be fitted to a flat surface.

Wood Adhesive Circle Table Hardwood


Next I bored a 1 3/4" hole in a piece of arbutus with a forstner bit ….

Wood Gas Road surface Circle Flooring


...and chucked it on a slightly tapered spindle for turning.

Wood Bumper Gas Auto part Tool


These were easy enough to eyeball so I didn't need the copier.

Wood Gas Cylinder Auto part Wire


Back to the tubi balls. Next job was to mark the position of the rings and sand a little flat surface for the rings to mount on.

Hand tool Burin Wood Stonemason's hammer Tool


Here's one with the ring all fitted up. The other is the dyed yellow cedar trial piece.

Wood Musical instrument Wood stain Metal Hardwood


And here's the set of four with a first thought prototype of the leg top.

Plant Flower Wood Flooring Gas


That's it for this one. Sorry I didn't get farther but this was a very critical step in the process for me because it was the central feature around which the project was developed. I really wanted to get it right and it took a bit if time.

Next time I'll finish up with the legs. I promise you'll like them…........I hope.

Comments, critiques and questions…. Of course.

Thanks for looking in

Paul
 

Attachments

#101 ·
Getting the Legs Started.

Back in the first part of this blog I posted this photo and said that the project was going to turn out quite like the "plan". ... but this is a sketch of a leg and just a corner of a table so what goes? Well the answer is that the original idea here was to make a table with really cool legs. The ringed ball idea had just come to me from ??? who knows where but when I sketched it I liked it. Then I added the table and indicated lots of marquetry even on the curved parts.

Rectangle Wood Parallel Tints and shades Font


So lets have a look at how the ringed balls came together. First I glued and squared up some Tubi stock and made a pattern for the copy lathe attachment that came with my old ShopSmith 10ER (1950).

Rectangle Wood Ruler Wood stain Office ruler


This would produce balls exactly 1 3/4" diameter with 3/4" spindles on each end.

Wood Table Rectangle Font Flooring


The piece in the lathe here is a bit of yellow cedar that I used as a trial piece.

Sewing machine Motor vehicle Machine tool Bumper Gas


This is the little gauge I used to check the accuracy of the balls and spindles. I left the balls just a hair oversize so the rings could be fitted to a flat surface.

Wood Adhesive Circle Table Hardwood


Next I bored a 1 3/4" hole in a piece of arbutus with a forstner bit ….

Wood Gas Road surface Circle Flooring


...and chucked it on a slightly tapered spindle for turning.

Wood Bumper Gas Auto part Tool


These were easy enough to eyeball so I didn't need the copier.

Wood Gas Cylinder Auto part Wire


Back to the tubi balls. Next job was to mark the position of the rings and sand a little flat surface for the rings to mount on.

Hand tool Burin Wood Stonemason's hammer Tool


Here's one with the ring all fitted up. The other is the dyed yellow cedar trial piece.

Wood Musical instrument Wood stain Metal Hardwood


And here's the set of four with a first thought prototype of the leg top.

Plant Flower Wood Flooring Gas


That's it for this one. Sorry I didn't get farther but this was a very critical step in the process for me because it was the central feature around which the project was developed. I really wanted to get it right and it took a bit if time.

Next time I'll finish up with the legs. I promise you'll like them…........I hope.

Comments, critiques and questions…. Of course.

Thanks for looking in

Paul
Fa fa fannntastic!!
 

Attachments

#119 ·
Oooooh, Nice Legs!

Ok, next step is to get some leg blanks out and prepare them to accept the ringed balls. This was just a matter of dimensioning some big leaf maple of which I have a nice stock and routing half holes on center in all the halves before gluing them up. Here are the pieces all ready to glue up.

Wood Hardwood Gas Wood stain Plank


And here they are all glued up and fitted with the balls to check for fit and alignment.

Wood Shelving Desk Shelf Hardwood


In this photo I'm using my Veritas radius-master to create a high precision curve pattern for the leg detail. This is a very versatile tool. I also use it to heat sand in for shading. You could probably even bake a cake in it.

Automotive tire Wood Tread Gas Automotive wheel system


The curves were cut on the bandsaw and tuned up on the top of my stationary belt sander.

Wood Flooring Floor Gas Hardwood


I made up a spherical sander from the prototype ball to see how a fitted leg / ball joint would look.

Wood Floor Gas Machine Pedestal


The sander worked fine but I didn't like the look of the joint. It just didn't look as clean as the one in the sketch. (So there's your answer Rance.)

Wood Hardwood Flooring Gas Wood stain


Next I moved on to the leg marquetry. There were to be fourteen separate pieces of marquetry on each leg. (Something like 480 pieces, but who's counting?) As the initial marquetry in the medallion had been a mixture of music and floral themes, I decided to carry both on to the rest of the table.

These pieces will go above the ball.

Rectangle Wood Font Pattern Metal


Wood Font Signage Art Sign


The dark on light ones are by-products and may be used elsewhere, maybe, sometime???

Font Wood Metal Collection Carmine


And these ones will go below the ball.

Brown Rectangle Wood Natural material Triangle


Wood Art Rectangle Composite material Metal


This is the glue-up jig for the leg tops.

Wood Textile Rectangle Flooring Floor


And the veneered tops. At this point the balls are not glued in.

Liquid Bottle Glass bottle Fluid Cosmetics


A lot of hours later and after a lot of scraper work and lot of sanding I was finally able to glue up the legs. The trick here is to be sure they glue up straight. As far as I can tell this glue-up jig did a pretty good job. I'll know when final assembly happens.

Wood Trigger Hardwood Flooring Wood stain


Sorry there are no photos with the bottoms of the legs finished but you are as of these next few photos, right up to date with me, at least on the legs. These are a few pics of the glued up, fully veneered legs with a first coat of thinned shellac sprayed on. I think they just may look really nice with that table top.

The treble clefs are on the front and back of the table and the bass clefs are on the ends.

Wood Hardwood Wood stain Natural material Audio equipment


Wood Sleeve Artifact Art Hardwood


Footwear Art Wood Boot Font


I apologize for the length of this segment but if you think this was long you should have been in the shop for the last two weeks. ;-)

You are now up to speed on the legs but I'm still ahead on the table so the next installment will deal with the marquetry for the aprons.

Thanks for dropping in. I hope you enjoyed the ride.

As always comments questions and critiques are welcome and encouraged.

Paul
 

Attachments

#120 ·
Oooooh, Nice Legs!

Ok, next step is to get some leg blanks out and prepare them to accept the ringed balls. This was just a matter of dimensioning some big leaf maple of which I have a nice stock and routing half holes on center in all the halves before gluing them up. Here are the pieces all ready to glue up.

Wood Hardwood Gas Wood stain Plank


And here they are all glued up and fitted with the balls to check for fit and alignment.

Wood Shelving Desk Shelf Hardwood


In this photo I'm using my Veritas radius-master to create a high precision curve pattern for the leg detail. This is a very versatile tool. I also use it to heat sand in for shading. You could probably even bake a cake in it.

Automotive tire Wood Tread Gas Automotive wheel system


The curves were cut on the bandsaw and tuned up on the top of my stationary belt sander.

Wood Flooring Floor Gas Hardwood


I made up a spherical sander from the prototype ball to see how a fitted leg / ball joint would look.

Wood Floor Gas Machine Pedestal


The sander worked fine but I didn't like the look of the joint. It just didn't look as clean as the one in the sketch. (So there's your answer Rance.)

Wood Hardwood Flooring Gas Wood stain


Next I moved on to the leg marquetry. There were to be fourteen separate pieces of marquetry on each leg. (Something like 480 pieces, but who's counting?) As the initial marquetry in the medallion had been a mixture of music and floral themes, I decided to carry both on to the rest of the table.

These pieces will go above the ball.

Rectangle Wood Font Pattern Metal


Wood Font Signage Art Sign


The dark on light ones are by-products and may be used elsewhere, maybe, sometime???

Font Wood Metal Collection Carmine


And these ones will go below the ball.

Brown Rectangle Wood Natural material Triangle


Wood Art Rectangle Composite material Metal


This is the glue-up jig for the leg tops.

Wood Textile Rectangle Flooring Floor


And the veneered tops. At this point the balls are not glued in.

Liquid Bottle Glass bottle Fluid Cosmetics


A lot of hours later and after a lot of scraper work and lot of sanding I was finally able to glue up the legs. The trick here is to be sure they glue up straight. As far as I can tell this glue-up jig did a pretty good job. I'll know when final assembly happens.

Wood Trigger Hardwood Flooring Wood stain


Sorry there are no photos with the bottoms of the legs finished but you are as of these next few photos, right up to date with me, at least on the legs. These are a few pics of the glued up, fully veneered legs with a first coat of thinned shellac sprayed on. I think they just may look really nice with that table top.

The treble clefs are on the front and back of the table and the bass clefs are on the ends.

Wood Hardwood Wood stain Natural material Audio equipment


Wood Sleeve Artifact Art Hardwood


Footwear Art Wood Boot Font


I apologize for the length of this segment but if you think this was long you should have been in the shop for the last two weeks. ;-)

You are now up to speed on the legs but I'm still ahead on the table so the next installment will deal with the marquetry for the aprons.

Thanks for dropping in. I hope you enjoyed the ride.

As always comments questions and critiques are welcome and encouraged.

Paul
Just Speechless…

Beautiful!

Great work!
 

Attachments

#153 ·
Pretty Apron to go with the Nice Legs

I guess we all probably agree that what this table needs to sharpen it up is a little more marquetry, right? Ok, so lets get working on the aprons.

The first job is to make a "frisage", a geometrically arranged background for the marquetry. For this table I've decided upon a "chevron" match of macassar ebony. The tricky part is that I will be cutting the holes for the central pieces of the motif in two back to back halves and then cutting the inlay pieces separately (classic style) from an identical pattern. To do this and maintain the match in the frisage takes a little planning.

In the first photo I have made the chevron match and taped it on the back side and then folded it in half. The photo shows the packet being made up with this fold set back from the its edge by exactly the amount that the paper pattern overruns center of the motif. I could line it up exactly with the edge but then I'd have my packet coming apart when I cut the center pieces out. The fold must end up exactly on the centerline. This is really critical.

Wood Rectangle Font Line Wood stain


Now, with the bottom layer of the folded background taped down to the backer I can carefully lower the top and tape it down as well.

Ruler Rectangle Office ruler Wood Textile


Here is the packet all made up. It includes the backgrounds, one for the front apron and one for the back and four layers of green poplar for the main part of the pattern. I put a little stick in tight against the fold as a backup check for aligning the pattern. It is really important to mark all the sides and grain directions on these packets when you make them up. Once the "wasters" are on there is no way to tell which way is up.

Rectangle Cutting mat Wood Pattern Linens


The final step is to attach the pattern with spray adhesive. Again that alignment is really critical.

Cutting mat Rectangle Textile Creative arts Line


This photo will better explain why I set the fold back from the edge. I have cut the two halves of the central element and although the backgrounds are fully cut, the packet is not compromised by the end being open. (Is that at all clear?)

Wood Art Font Gas Flooring


With all that now out of the way I can go ahead and cut the motif, removing the poplar pieces as I go. The scotch tape on the top of the packet is to prevent some of the fragile bits of background from catching on the chevalet jaws.

Brown Art Wood Plant Font


Here is the moment of truth. The packet has been taken apart and the backgrounds opened up. It looks like I've nailed it on the line up. In actual fact my hole is very slightly smaller than the pattern so when I cut the pieces to go in these centerline holes, I always stayed to the centerline side of the line. That worked fine.

Brown Product Rectangle Textile Wood


Here is the assembled motif with the poplar parts from the packet and the center parts and yellow flowers cut separately. Half of this layout is showing the backing paper because half of the pieces in the packet were cut upside down. If I had been on my toes two of the green layers would have been placed in the packet with their paper side down instead of up.

Brown Rectangle Wood Font Material property


There's no need to go through all the steps again but suffice to say, there are end aprons as well as front and back. Again the two themes of music and floral have been carried to the aprons.

Motor vehicle Wood Rectangle Vehicle door Automotive design


Well, that's about it for the marquetry part. There is a little cabinetmaker stuff and some finishing left to go but yes, there does appear to be a light at the end of this tunnel ….. and it may not even be a train.

Next time assembly and scrollwork on the aprons and maybe a sneak peak at some sub assemblies.

Thanks for looking in.

As always ….you know.

Paul
 

Attachments

#154 ·
Pretty Apron to go with the Nice Legs

I guess we all probably agree that what this table needs to sharpen it up is a little more marquetry, right? Ok, so lets get working on the aprons.

The first job is to make a "frisage", a geometrically arranged background for the marquetry. For this table I've decided upon a "chevron" match of macassar ebony. The tricky part is that I will be cutting the holes for the central pieces of the motif in two back to back halves and then cutting the inlay pieces separately (classic style) from an identical pattern. To do this and maintain the match in the frisage takes a little planning.

In the first photo I have made the chevron match and taped it on the back side and then folded it in half. The photo shows the packet being made up with this fold set back from the its edge by exactly the amount that the paper pattern overruns center of the motif. I could line it up exactly with the edge but then I'd have my packet coming apart when I cut the center pieces out. The fold must end up exactly on the centerline. This is really critical.

Wood Rectangle Font Line Wood stain


Now, with the bottom layer of the folded background taped down to the backer I can carefully lower the top and tape it down as well.

Ruler Rectangle Office ruler Wood Textile


Here is the packet all made up. It includes the backgrounds, one for the front apron and one for the back and four layers of green poplar for the main part of the pattern. I put a little stick in tight against the fold as a backup check for aligning the pattern. It is really important to mark all the sides and grain directions on these packets when you make them up. Once the "wasters" are on there is no way to tell which way is up.

Rectangle Cutting mat Wood Pattern Linens


The final step is to attach the pattern with spray adhesive. Again that alignment is really critical.

Cutting mat Rectangle Textile Creative arts Line


This photo will better explain why I set the fold back from the edge. I have cut the two halves of the central element and although the backgrounds are fully cut, the packet is not compromised by the end being open. (Is that at all clear?)

Wood Art Font Gas Flooring


With all that now out of the way I can go ahead and cut the motif, removing the poplar pieces as I go. The scotch tape on the top of the packet is to prevent some of the fragile bits of background from catching on the chevalet jaws.

Brown Art Wood Plant Font


Here is the moment of truth. The packet has been taken apart and the backgrounds opened up. It looks like I've nailed it on the line up. In actual fact my hole is very slightly smaller than the pattern so when I cut the pieces to go in these centerline holes, I always stayed to the centerline side of the line. That worked fine.

Brown Product Rectangle Textile Wood


Here is the assembled motif with the poplar parts from the packet and the center parts and yellow flowers cut separately. Half of this layout is showing the backing paper because half of the pieces in the packet were cut upside down. If I had been on my toes two of the green layers would have been placed in the packet with their paper side down instead of up.

Brown Rectangle Wood Font Material property


There's no need to go through all the steps again but suffice to say, there are end aprons as well as front and back. Again the two themes of music and floral have been carried to the aprons.

Motor vehicle Wood Rectangle Vehicle door Automotive design


Well, that's about it for the marquetry part. There is a little cabinetmaker stuff and some finishing left to go but yes, there does appear to be a light at the end of this tunnel ….. and it may not even be a train.

Next time assembly and scrollwork on the aprons and maybe a sneak peak at some sub assemblies.

Thanks for looking in.

As always ….you know.

Paul
Another very interesting post Paul, looks like its really getting close. Your doing a fantastic job!
 

Attachments

#176 ·
Finishing up the Aprons.

There will be a little flashback in time here as some of this was done before the legs were finished up. Anyway I will just throw in a few photos of some of the joinery involved without going into much detail.

Roughing out the mortises.

Home appliance Wood Line Creative arts Gas


And the tenons.

Wood Hardwood Machine tool Flooring Gas


I like to leave the tenons a little big and final fit while cleaning the mortises.

Wood Hand tool Bumper Automotive exterior Gas


Looks good.

Wood Rectangle Hardwood Box Flooring


I glued a strip on the tops of the apron pieces after fitting to locate the table frame inside the recess in the bottom of the table top. This keeps everything square and evenly spaced automatically and gives some mechanical interlock to the frame to top joint.

Automotive tire Wood Table Automotive exterior Gas


This one shows the aprons in place, locked into the table top. I added the piece of tubi that came out of the rebate in the top of the tabletop frame to the inside of the bottom recess. This creates the correct spacing for the aprons underneath.

Wood Bumper Floor Flooring Wood stain


After adding a little more maple to the bottoms of the aprons I pressed the marquetry onto the faces

Brown Wood Rectangle Flooring Beige


And hammer veneered mahogany on the backs. As it turns out I discovered that a paint scraper with it's blade ground smooth makes the best veneer hammer I've yet made…. and the easiest.

Wood Hand tool Wood stain Hardwood Flooring


Next job was one I had been dreading. I have a lot of respect for the great scrollers on LJ's… I'm just not one of them. This tool was the one that caused me to build my chevalet(s).

Wood Office ruler Tool Audio equipment Ruler


Since I did promise some sub-assembly shots, here are a couple.

Product Wood Musical instrument Hardwood Tool


Wood Religious item Sleeve Rectangle Art


As of these photos you are only a day or two behind where I am at present. Remaining to be done are the stretchers and some sort of edge treatment for the bottoms of the scrolled edges. Along with the stretchers will come some shop made tubi veneer on the leg "toes". Of course there is also final glue-up and lots of finishing.

This means the blogs will "blog down" a little now. I may do one more before I post the project but I don't want to let the whole cat out of the bag in advance.

Thanks for looking in and as always please ask questions and comment if you wish.

Paul
 

Attachments

#177 ·
Finishing up the Aprons.

There will be a little flashback in time here as some of this was done before the legs were finished up. Anyway I will just throw in a few photos of some of the joinery involved without going into much detail.

Roughing out the mortises.



And the tenons.



I like to leave the tenons a little big and final fit while cleaning the mortises.



Looks good.



I glued a strip on the tops of the apron pieces after fitting to locate the table frame inside the recess in the bottom of the table top. This keeps everything square and evenly spaced automatically and gives some mechanical interlock to the frame to top joint.



This one shows the aprons in place, locked into the table top. I added the piece of tubi that came out of the rebate in the top of the tabletop frame to the inside of the bottom recess. This creates the correct spacing for the aprons underneath.



After adding a little more maple to the bottoms of the aprons I pressed the marquetry onto the faces



And hammer veneered mahogany on the backs. As it turns out I discovered that a paint scraper with it's blade ground smooth makes the best veneer hammer I've yet made…. and the easiest.



Next job was one I had been dreading. I have a lot of respect for the great scrollers on LJ's… I'm just not one of them. This tool was the one that caused me to build my chevalet(s).



Since I did promise some sub-assembly shots, here are a couple.





As of these photos you are only a day or two behind where I am at present. Remaining to be done are the stretchers and some sort of edge treatment for the bottoms of the scrolled edges. Along with the stretchers will come some shop made tubi veneer on the leg "toes". Of course there is also final glue-up and lots of finishing.

This means the blogs will "blog down" a little now. I may do one more before I post the project but I don't want to let the whole cat out of the bag in advance.

Thanks for looking in and as always please ask questions and comment if you wish.

Paul
What tune do these notes represent? Beautiful work. Still reminds me of some of the work in the Getty Center near you.
 

Attachments

#193 ·
A Couple of Chevalet Videos.

A couple of segments back Rance asked in a comment if I could do a close up of the chevalet making a cut.

I gave it a try today. This is the best I can do with my cheap camera and my cheap tripod but it actually shows the cut reasonably well. The cut itself is not very good because the camera was in my line of sight and in my way. Also I normally cut further down in the vee of the jaws but the camera couldn't see in there so I'm cutting a little higher.

CAUTION: BORING !! unless you are interested.



The second one is from a little further away to give better context.

CAUTION: EVEN MORE BORING !! unless you're interested.



Sorry about the quality. Hope this will do Rance.

Paul
 
#194 ·
That was very interesting…

The first time I've seen that thing in action…

COOL operation…

Thank you.
 
#223 ·
Delicate Moldings

I always knew that the scrolled edges of the aprons were going to need some kind of trim to define them but I kept putting off designing them because I wanted to see the pieces first and then decide what would suit. Each solution I had thought about had its drawbacks but the one I really wanted seemed to have the most…... so I decided to try and figure out a way to do it.

To put the cart before the horse, this is what I envisioned, a delicate 1/8" x 1/4" half round molding the same shape as the scroll cut and mounted on the surface to give a three dimensional "finish" to the edge. The material would be arbutus like the rings on the balls.

Brown Furniture Wood Art Wood stain


Envisioning it was the easy part. Now I had to make it. Here's what I came up with and you will have to excuse me for feeling more than a little proud of myself here….. sorry.

Problems:
1) If you scroll cut the piece out of 1/8" stock, it will explode when you try to rout it.
2) If you scroll cut it at a greater thickness and then do the routing, how do you cut the 1/8" off ?
...................and it may still explode.

Solution:

First scroll cut a pattern from 1/2" baltic birch ply. The multi-ply pattern should resist breakage that could be expected with short grain areas of a solid piece.

Wood Audio equipment Automotive exterior Rectangle Eyewear


Next rip some 1/8" arbutus stock

Wood Flooring Hardwood Gas Composite material


and fasten it to the pattern with double sided tape. A few judicious whacks with a hammer will greatly increase the tape's holding power.

Wood Rectangle Font Hardwood Automotive exterior


Scroll cut the piece away from the stock within 1/8" of the pattern, closer is better.

Wood Natural material Art Circle Rectangle


This is my favorite part. I will digress here a moment to reference the next tool to be used.

About a year ago (OK exactly 423 days ago….. thank you Lumberjocks ), I posted a little overhead pin router idea that I had for the drill press. At that time I was still fooling around with router type marquetry and wanted to see if a pin router could make that easier….. it didn't work on the very small pieces I was hoping to get so I put it aside and it has never come back out …... until now.

Creative arts Jig grinder Milling Wood Drilling


With a 1/8" brass pin in the drill chuck and a 1/8" spiral bit in the trim router the setup cleaned the piece exactly down to the pattern perfectly.

Automotive tire Asphalt Gas Rim Road surface


With the pattern still attached I was able to rout the 1/8 corner round easily with no chatter or explosions.

Gas Screw Auto part Machine Circle


Of course there were areas where the bearing on the router wouldn't fit but then that's why God gave us carving tools and sandpaper right?

Wood House numbering Font Kitchen utensil Metal


After a little tuning and sanding while still on the pattern / handle I removed the molding with a knife.

Hood Handle Wood Automotive exterior Gas


and tried the fit. There is a little fine tuning with sandpaper left to do but I'm very happy with the results. The color will darken to match the rings when the finish is applied.

Wood Table Wood stain Rectangle Material property


Spurred on by yesterday's success (above) I went out this morning and got the end moldings out in one piece.

Plant Wood Bumper Scaled reptile Reptile


Architecture Wood Line Flooring Floor


Wood Font Household hardware Metal Jewellery


I may have actually glued some of them up this afternoon but alas, there were whitecaps in the bay….. so I went sailing.
Thanks for looking in.

Questions, comments, etc… welcome.

Paul
 

Attachments

#224 ·
Delicate Moldings

I always knew that the scrolled edges of the aprons were going to need some kind of trim to define them but I kept putting off designing them because I wanted to see the pieces first and then decide what would suit. Each solution I had thought about had its drawbacks but the one I really wanted seemed to have the most…... so I decided to try and figure out a way to do it.

To put the cart before the horse, this is what I envisioned, a delicate 1/8" x 1/4" half round molding the same shape as the scroll cut and mounted on the surface to give a three dimensional "finish" to the edge. The material would be arbutus like the rings on the balls.

Brown Furniture Wood Art Wood stain


Envisioning it was the easy part. Now I had to make it. Here's what I came up with and you will have to excuse me for feeling more than a little proud of myself here….. sorry.

Problems:
1) If you scroll cut the piece out of 1/8" stock, it will explode when you try to rout it.
2) If you scroll cut it at a greater thickness and then do the routing, how do you cut the 1/8" off ?
...................and it may still explode.

Solution:

First scroll cut a pattern from 1/2" baltic birch ply. The multi-ply pattern should resist breakage that could be expected with short grain areas of a solid piece.

Wood Audio equipment Automotive exterior Rectangle Eyewear


Next rip some 1/8" arbutus stock

Wood Flooring Hardwood Gas Composite material


and fasten it to the pattern with double sided tape. A few judicious whacks with a hammer will greatly increase the tape's holding power.

Wood Rectangle Font Hardwood Automotive exterior


Scroll cut the piece away from the stock within 1/8" of the pattern, closer is better.

Wood Natural material Art Circle Rectangle


This is my favorite part. I will digress here a moment to reference the next tool to be used.

About a year ago (OK exactly 423 days ago….. thank you Lumberjocks ), I posted a little overhead pin router idea that I had for the drill press. At that time I was still fooling around with router type marquetry and wanted to see if a pin router could make that easier….. it didn't work on the very small pieces I was hoping to get so I put it aside and it has never come back out …... until now.

Creative arts Jig grinder Milling Wood Drilling


With a 1/8" brass pin in the drill chuck and a 1/8" spiral bit in the trim router the setup cleaned the piece exactly down to the pattern perfectly.

Automotive tire Asphalt Gas Rim Road surface


With the pattern still attached I was able to rout the 1/8 corner round easily with no chatter or explosions.

Gas Screw Auto part Machine Circle


Of course there were areas where the bearing on the router wouldn't fit but then that's why God gave us carving tools and sandpaper right?

Wood House numbering Font Kitchen utensil Metal


After a little tuning and sanding while still on the pattern / handle I removed the molding with a knife.

Hood Handle Wood Automotive exterior Gas


and tried the fit. There is a little fine tuning with sandpaper left to do but I'm very happy with the results. The color will darken to match the rings when the finish is applied.

Wood Table Wood stain Rectangle Material property


Spurred on by yesterday's success (above) I went out this morning and got the end moldings out in one piece.

Plant Wood Bumper Scaled reptile Reptile


Architecture Wood Line Flooring Floor


Wood Font Household hardware Metal Jewellery


I may have actually glued some of them up this afternoon but alas, there were whitecaps in the bay….. so I went sailing.
Thanks for looking in.

Questions, comments, etc… welcome.

Paul
You are unbelievable Paul!! Wowza.
 

Attachments

#249 ·
Finishing and Polishing to Music

This will be the last part of this blog until after the project is posted. I wasn't even going to do this one but a funny thing happened today. I was applying a french polish to the tabletop and listening to some classical music on the radio when I noticed that my hand was following the music. I thought some of you might get a kick out of it too so I did a short video of it.

I think I could really mess this up listening to Hendrix.



The other parts are all in the spray booth. Nothing interesting going on there. I'm just building a layer of shellac to rub out to a sheen that won't compete with the top.

Wood Garden tool Tints and shades Metal Shovel


Wood Rectangle Sports equipment Jewellery Folk instrument


That's all. Just thought I might be able to make someone smile.

PS I apologize if there are ads in the video. Apparently because there is third party content (the music) I can't prevent it.

Paul
 

Attachments

#250 ·
Finishing and Polishing to Music

This will be the last part of this blog until after the project is posted. I wasn't even going to do this one but a funny thing happened today. I was applying a french polish to the tabletop and listening to some classical music on the radio when I noticed that my hand was following the music. I thought some of you might get a kick out of it too so I did a short video of it.

I think I could really mess this up listening to Hendrix.



The other parts are all in the spray booth. Nothing interesting going on there. I'm just building a layer of shellac to rub out to a sheen that won't compete with the top.

Wood Garden tool Tints and shades Metal Shovel


Wood Rectangle Sports equipment Jewellery Folk instrument


That's all. Just thought I might be able to make someone smile.

PS I apologize if there are ads in the video. Apparently because there is third party content (the music) I can't prevent it.

Paul
It must have been Hendix's early work LOL If I ever made anything that beautiful Paul I would be afraid to look at it to hard near enough sand it. This is a real master piece.
 

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