Patrice Lejeune: Treasure Box #2 - Marquetry incrustation on assembly board

It has been a while since I shared the progress on our box.

So here it is

Previously on Box series #2 inspired form that antique which remid us a bit of Gole's painting in wood.

I have cut all my pieces for the 2 inside panel of the box

And shaded them

For todays episode, there is first the background cutting.

It starts with glueing the design on the packs. The packs are a backer-board 3mm thick, grease paper, 4 layers of bloodwood sawn veneer, a front board and the design on top.

The background is cut on the chevalet

Like for the pieces, the pack is riveted with nails. The outside of the pack is taped the inside is nailed. NO nails in the background to keep.

There is inside background pieces marked with a red cross for easy identification when I cut and to remember to keep them. To keep them in place, I use what we call bridges, a link from the main background to the isolated pieces, like bridges to an island if the bridge was what kept the island in place

When we are done cutting, I take of the tape on the back first. I tape the pack while cutting, and especially the back, so it stays well in place, no pieces sticking out or vibrating.

Then i take of the tape from the front and start pushing gently the waste out of my background, being careful not to wedge them or to brake things.

I keep everything in a tray as it is hard at that point to be sure you haven’t broken any tiny pieces, so you want to keep everything for safety.

Then I open the pack with a razor blade, layer by layer, being carefull not to cut in the veneer but in between the layers. First the front board

Then the first layer of background, here is a close up where you can see the bridges again

Ready to start putting it together, the background pack goes in the press while putting the panels together so the veneer do not move, especially in a dry day.

I put glue on my assembly board, a nice thin layer, fast and clean.

And put the background face down.
We are building from the back, the background is glued face down on the paper what we see is the glue side.
The front of the marquetry will be the paper side. The paper and the glue will hold the marquetry together up to the moment comes to glue it to the actual piece of wood.