The day began with smoothing the parquetry compositions, first with toothing planes, both manufactured and home-made, then followed by blocks of pumice.
The next step was to lay out a simple banding knotwork design for one corner as an exercise.
Excavating for the inlay came next, followed by cutting and fitting the elements of the design.
In the end everyone went home with examples of the techniques to apply to their upcoming projects.
If this technique interests you I hope you will join me for next year’s class on October 1-3, 2026.
It’s been a banner year for the Barn Clan, with grandson #3 born in February and grandson #4 born last Friday, giving us quite the inventory. As the fates would have us all the grandsons live within five miles of each other, so Grandma Barn is always ready for a road trip.
Good thing Grandpa Barn has bins of tools ready for the new hands.
Opening up the panels glued up the night before is always a thrill for the students to see their work coming to fruition.
The next step is to trim the fields to make them good rectangles for the banding followed later by the borders. A variety of veneer saws were at work, ranging from pricey French saws to inexpensive Japanese ones. They all work.
The perimeter banding was applied and adhered with 192 gws glue, and the banding held in place with aluminum push pins that are surprisingly similar to those used by craftsmen 250 years ago.
Throughout the day and overnight, if a panel was not being worked it was placed in front of a box fan to drive off as much moisture as possible, to harden the glue under the parquetry. That strategy was somewhat successful.
Thus endeth Day 2.
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