The Craft of Veneering

The veneer process starts by cutting the pieces, then gluing
them together like a puzzle piece to the desired design. 

At K International Woodworking we get lots of requests to beautify a project with unique features. The best way to accomplish such a request is to use parquetry, marquetry, or inlay techniques.  Our craftsmen are trained in Europe and have a high knowledge of veneering.

Veneering can be simple but it can also be very complicated, it all depends on the design.  The term veneering has a different meaning to different people, but no matter which way you look at it, veneering is a method in which one surface is decorated with more appealing materials giving it beauty and elegance.

We have several alluring weaved-basket table tops on display in our showroom and we constantly get asked where we get this kind of wood with such a unique design. As we explain the process of how this beautifully unified piece has been created, we can see the eyes of the clients light up. They are all amazed. We have the original veneer pieces next to the table tops so that we can show them how it all started.

As seen in the above picture, veneer is cut into the desired size and then it is glued together into the specified design. The veneer pieces can be cut into any shape, depending on the design. Pictured above are veneer pieces cut into parallelograms. The process continues with pressing the finished product in order to unify the piece into one. There are various ways to press veneer, even home-made options for the hobbyists. Rockler.com has a great article that breaks down the different ways of how to press veneer (see below for link).

There are several more steps including finishing (spraying/coloring) the product. In the end you get a unique design such as this:

The veneer pieces for this weave-basket table top, have been burned prior
to being glued together in order to give it that shadow effect. For more
information on burning veneer please see our prior blog post: Picture Tutorial on Burning Veneer

Veneering used to create a flower 

Veneering is an art and can certainly get more intricate. Depending on the skill level, veneer craftsmen are able to design images, even reproduce pictures of animals, plants, or humans.

To the left, the image of a lovely flower sticks out in the forefront of the elegant  parquetry background design. Each piece for the flower and background has to be individually cut in order to fit together to create this beautiful piece (cabinet door).  

Fore more information on veneering:

Skills And Techniques by finewoodworking.com

How to Veneer by Rockler.com

This website/ blog post has several great examples of veneer art used that designs faces.