String inlaid box #6: Marquetry fail.
First, a note on my new favorite tool… a Chisel point brad awl! Where has this been all my life? This makes installing hinges crazy easy. You need one too.
Ok, now back to the marquetry for the top of the box.
1. Selected veneers
2. Draw my pattern, which I tried to copy from a picture in Pierre's book.
3. Glue newsprint to the fronts of all my sheets
4. Press in air pump vac, with sheets of newspaper in between
5. Make packet
Picture of my birdsmouth
6. Use fret saw to saw out the individual pieces of the pattern.
7. Reassemble and tape the face side (backside)
The next step would be to use mastic to fill the gaps, and then glue it to a sub. But… I do not like the outcome. I will not be using this panel. For several reasons:1. The kerf left between the pieces is too big. Even though I used a super tiny 2/0 marquetry blade, the gap is too big.
2. I think my packet was too thick. There was a 1/8 ply on the top and bottom of the packet, and this made the sawing too slow (in my opinion), and I felt that it put quite a bit of stress on the blade (see #3) if I do this again, I will do it with .8mm ply.
3. My free hand fret saw skills are not good enough, they are ok, but not great. My arm got tired after a while and then started to sag, and then I was not cutting at the proper angle, and this puts lots of stress on the blade. This also messed up the layers of veneer so there are slightly different, not noticeable to others, but to Mr. Edwards (that's right, I called him Mister), Paul Shipwright, and Patrice, my errors would be very noticeable.
4. I was frustrated by the whole process. This is one of those places and stages in woodworking where you know what needs to be done, you have the skills to do it, you want to do it really bad, but you just do not have the resources or tools to do it. I have done some really nice double bevel stuff, but those have been small, like little sea shells. It has basically come to the point where I cannot move forward in the techniques and styles that I want unless I make myself a chevalet. I am sure someone somewhere out there will tell me other wise… but that is just what I want.
So my conclusion to this part of the build… the process just got bigger, because now when I am done making my next batch of corporate commissions, I am going to build a chevalet. WOO HOO!!!!
Thanks for reading.Jeremy
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