Parquetry Workshop Day 1

We had a terrific day creating parquetry panels in The Barn today.  Joe and Josh were on the spot at 9 AM sharp, and after introductions all around we got to work.  I quickly reviewed all the materials, processes, and tools, and within minutes we were underway. First, they glued up sawing jigs.  A bit later we layed out and sawed the kerfs for these bench-hook style tools.  I will blog about this process on Monday night. Then, we moved on to creating sawn veneer strips with my min-bandsaw, which is pretty much dedicated to sawing veneer for parquetry these days.  Joshua opted for some of my vintage and tight grained Bald Cypress, and Joe brought a piece of superb true mahogany. We ran it through the planer quickly to verify planarity, then sawed it up with the bandsaw. The we got to cutting parallelograms for the assembled pattern.  And sawed.  And sawed. It takes a pile o’ lozenges to create a completed pattern. After lunch I reviewed the working system for assembling the pattern (about which I will be blogging later next week) then fired up the glue pots and we were off to the races.  All three of us were creating parquetry panels; Joe and Josh were making small table tops, and I was working on one of four panels for an upcoming tool cabinet. By the end of the day each of us had completed the “field” of the panel we were creating. All in all, a very good day.