Building Federal Style Table Part 6/Done – Tabletop Veneering and Finishing

[Pat Barry]

I really love the tabletop. Gorgeous! The marquetry is a nice feature.

[Mel Fulks]

Seen lots of tables of that type but this is a spectacularly splashy specimen !

[Patrick McCarthy]

Michael, sir

ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS. I am extremely impressed and, unfortunately for me, humbled. Very, very impressive.

Much like Brian, it is very generous of you to share the process with us. Very nice; you deserve to be very proud of this.

Patrick, a mere mortal

[Robert LaPlaca]

Mike, excellent work. The crotch Mahogany you used, was the Mahogany South American, if so, where did you find the veneer?

[Mike Allen1010]

Thanks all for your very kind comments – you are too generous by far!


Marty, I I'm thrilled to hear you're gonna try some veneer/marquetry! My primary reason for posting is to encourage folks to give a new skill a try. I'm always intimidated by the fantastic work I see in magazines etc. and it's hard for me to understand/follow intricate step-by-step written instructions - 'm much more of a visual learner, As a consequence, when I was younger I often shied away from trying new skills because I just thought they were over my head. .


This table was my first attempt at significant veneering and marquetry and it definitely got a lot easier with a little practice. After a few tries actually working with the tools and materials (as compared to reading about them); it was a lot easier to get the general idea of what I was trying to do. That said, I still made plenty of mistakes – you guys might be not be able to see them in the pics but there definitely there!


The biggest learning for me was that commercially available veneer is so thin that it leaves little margin for error in final surfacing/smoothing. There are several places in the table where I sanded/scraped through the show veneer trying to get a nice flat, shiny surface. After working so hard to get the veneer down in the first place, it was super disheartening to blow it during the final step!


The best advice I can offer from my own limited experience is use 16" thick shop sawn veneer whenever possible – it's less likely to fracture when sawing sharp points and gives you more margin to play with in surfacing. The challenges is highly figured woods (like the crotch mahogany on the tabletop) are only available commercially, at least for me. Gluing a 2nd sheet of plane veneer to the bottom of the show veneer at a 90° angle to the grain, makes it easier to saw out the small details, but you're still with the left with the challenge of sanding through.


If you're like me and one of your favorite things in woodworking is using a sharp plane to get a beautiful final surface, the temptation for "just one more stroke", is something I have to learn to resist when it comes to inlay/marquetry/veneer etc.


Robert, I bought the veneer online from Constantine's (http://www.constantines.com), mostly because I seen it referenced in reading etc. They seem to have a large selection/inventory of all things related to veneering etc. if your project requires veneer of a specific dimensions, I would encourage you to give them a call. For example, I couldn't figure out how much of the crotch veneer I needed to accommodate the radial pattern of the tabletop. The guy spoke to on the phone was super helpful – I told him what I was trying to do and he picked out 6 pieces of crotch veneer specifically to fit this design. Fair warning, I was surprised at how pricey the figured veneers were, but I don't have much experience with that. The stuff I got was just labeled "mahogany crotch veneer", so I don't know what species it is. Frankly, my locally lumber yards seem to have so many different kinds of woods that are loosely described as "mahogany", it's hard for me to know what's what.


Hey Joe, this project pretty much used up my patience for some of the tedious veneer/inlay work common to the federal style, so it will be an a while before I try another one. For my next project I'm thinking about a small "Bombe" style chest with some small cabriolet shaped ball and claw feet. Instead of drawers, I'm thinking of leaving the front of the carcass open and in using it to hold hi-fi equipment. I have enough thick mahogany leftover to make the feet, but there's no way I would ever waste away all that 12/4 mahogany to get the curved carcass pieces. Even if I didn't mind the cost, to me it seems like a criminal waste of beautiful wood. I'm thinking of using pine or poplar (in Southern California there's not a lot of choice when you're looking for 12/4 material), and veneering the curved carcass elements.


As I have no idea how I'm going to layout all the curves for a project like this – I appreciate any advice or suggestions!


All the best, Mike

[paul cottingham]

You continue to inspire, Mike. Very nicely done.

[Jeff Bartley]

Mike,
Your work is outstanding! I'd love to learn more about your elevated marquetry 'bench'.....it looks clever and no doubt helps the process.
Thank you for taking the time to share your work. Build threads continue to be my favorites!

[Will Boulware]

Amazing work! Thanks for taking us along for the ride!

[Mike Allen1010]

[

QUOTE=Jeff Bartley;2623664]Mike,
Your work is outstanding! I'd love to learn more about your elevated marquetry 'bench'.....it looks clever and no doubt helps the process.
Thank you for taking the time to share your work. Build threads continue to be my favorites!

[/QUOTE]




Hi Jeff,


Thanks a lot for your kind comments!


The "marquetry bench" I think you might be referring to is commonly called a "bird's mouth". It is simply an elevated work surface (about eye level when I'm sitting down) with a V-shaped cut out that lets you support the thin veneers at the tip of the V, while you're sawing them out.


I think I might have given some details about the birds mouth is a earlier "step one – 2, etc." posts on this subject. I got the design from a book on veneering – sorry title/author's escape me right now but I'm fairly sure details are in an earlier post. If for some reason you can't find that, let me know and I'll dig up the references etc.


All the best, Mike

[Robert LaPlaca]

Mike, thanks for the tip on where you sourced Mahogany Crotch... Constantines is a name from the past, I actually have bought veneer from them in when they were located in the Bronx in NYC..

[Allen Jordan]

That table is incredible, well done. I'm terrible at working with veneer.

[paul goldberg]

Absolutely stunning. Working with multiple pieces of veneer to create patterns has always seemed like a dark art to me but this write up was most informative.