Marquetry and its Methods

As my final year project I looked at the different methods of cutting marquetry in order to establish the advantages and disadvantages of each. Marquetry is the process of using the natural grain of the veneer to create pictures. This can be achieved using a number of different tools, including a scalpel, scroll saw and a laser. In order to assess the advantages and disadvantages of each method, a picture was to be cut three times using each of the tools mentioned above and data was collected.

The picture to be reproduced was 'Meeting on the Tower Stairs" by Fredric William Burton, which was chosen because of the complexity of the picture, the dark and light colours used in the picture and the clearly defined lines within the painting, which makes it an ideal candidate for marquetry.

When all three pictures were complete, it was found that cutting by scalpel produced the tightest lines between pieces, and was felt by most people to be their personal favorite. Cutting by scroll saw was the fastest method, but it was thought to be the furthest from the original image. Cutting by laser was the slowest method, accounting for the time taken to draw the image on the computer and cut the image. However, this piece was found to be the closest to the original line drawing that each piece had been cut too.

The Scalpel cut Piece

The Scroll Sawn Piece

The Laser Cut Piece