Veneer is a thin slice of aesthetic wood used as decoration for furniture surfaces or wall panels. There are several different veneering techniques used by craftsman to create unique and artful pieces of furniture. Historically veneering has been around for over 5000 years, dating back all the way to ancient Egypt.
The advantages of veneering are plenty. For starters with the rapid rate of deforestation, tree species are becoming scares and veneers make it easy to cover a larger surface area for a much more affordable price. More veneers can be made out of a log than cutting out a thicker piece. Besides that, many tree species can only be found in veneer form, due to the rapid disappearance of them. In short, veneering is an environmentally friendly technique to beautify home furniture.
The most important advantage of veneers is its visual attractiveness. Veneers come in many different shapes and colors, and are so flexible that combining them becomes a fine art. Veneers can be used to create patterns, images, and designs .
There are various kinds of techniques that a craftsman can use to combine veneers. The simpler way of using veneers is by combining basic geometric patterns or curves into the surface, this method is called inlay. The more complex methods are marquetry and parquetry, which we will discuss in more detail. Marquetry is used to form images, while parquetry is mostly a geometric design of patterns.
Veneers need a solid surface to attach to. These surfaces are called substrates, for centuries only solid wood was used for veneering causing damage to surfaces because often veneered furniture is curved. A good substrate is solid but also bendable. Good substrates are plywood, particleboard, MDF, and lumber core.
In the next few days we will review and demonstrate the different veneer techniques.
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| Parquetry by K International Woodworking |
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