As an introduction to working with decorative veneers, parquetry has everything to recommend it. You may not be inclined towards pictorial marquetry, but with some veneers - like the ones we show here - plus a ruler, and a sharp knife you can create myriad's of patterns for large furniture or (just for a start) table mats.

Parquetry is the art of designing and constructing geometric patterns in wood veneer, using the same tools and materials as marquetry, but making different demands on skills, especially in the cutting.

Marquetry calls for a well developed artistic sense to produce top quality original work. It involves freehand cutting, and beginners usually start with kits to develop knowledge of veneers and technical skills before moving on to their own designs.

Parquetry, on the other hand, will appeal to everyone who enjoys veneers, particularly if you also enjoy maths! You will he designing your own patterns almost from the beginning; there are no kits or recommended designs to work through. Accuracy is achieved with rulers and jigs, using measuring and straight-line cutting techniques familiar to all woodworkers.

You'll find here a series of logical exercises showing how to produce the basic patterns. Using a little imagination, you can then develop your own designs and assemblies, playing mathematical games.

Learning is by doing - and enjoying the process. As you experiment, you'll find yourself wondering how to produce specific effects you want. You might start looking into the elements of mathematics which are the essential background to the craft, but many people prefer to work out practical solutions of their own.

Parquetry tools

Since the shapes to be cut - straight lines or regular curves - are straightforward,  use a more robust style of knife than you would for

marquetry, like a Swann-Morton craft knife with nos. 1 & 2 blades (or other makers' equivalents). Use an engineer's rule for cutting accurate straight lines. It is graduated and has two good straight edges, parallel to each other, which are essential. You won't normally require a specific size. When you do need a specific width, as in tile assembly (often referred to as "stick as you go" by older members of the Marquetry Society), you may have to make a metal parallel cutting guide using a guillotine, or one in 6mm ply using a panel or circular saw for accuracy. Finish the plywood edge by hand, using file and sandpaper.

For measuring and setting the angles required, use clear plastic 90/45° and 60/30° set squares, large ones for accuracy. Use clear sticky tape for holding veneer pieces in position and/or joining strips together, but choose a cheap tape with limited stick, generally found on market stalls.

You can use any wood glue for final assembly, although PVA is often the preferred glue these days, and of course it is suitable when you're sticking piece by piece direct to the baseboard using the 'tile' or 'stick as you go' method. For generally sticking taped assemblies use Cascamite, Contact glue, Glufilm or even balsa cement if PVA is not available.

Choosing veneers

Limit yourself to a few timber species, looking for marked contrast in colour and pieces with either little grain marking or striped parallel grain. I recommend:

Two parquetry methods are covered here:

1/. Strip method: all cutting and assembly is done using strips of veneer. This method is relatively easy, calls only for the accurate cutting of parallel strips of veneer, and avoids any build-up of cumulative errors.

2/. Tile assembly method: shapes are cut either in strips or individually, but assembled piece by piece. This requires greater accuracy since only small individual mistakes in cutting will accumulate to produce significant errors.

In each case you need to make simple jigs for repetitive cutting of parallel strips to a specific size and with accurate angles.

Strip method

Make a simple jig for strip cutting from a plywood or chipboard base (6-12mm thick) with a metal or ply guide strip about 1 in wide. Cut the ply strip with a panel or crosscut saw to produce a straight edge, and then true it with sandpaper and a file, before pinning and gluing it to one edge of the hoard as a stop.

You'll understand how the jig is used if you follow the stages in making the chessboard pattern (fig. 1).

Place a piece of veneer on the board against the guide stop, with the grain at 90° to the edge. Place your ruler on top of the veneer, tight up to the guide and cut a strip across the grain the width of the ruler. This first strip is waste unless the original edge was straight and true. Now repeat the procedure, cutting a number of parallel strips of the first veneer. Then you can cut strips of a contrasting veneer.

As you cut the edges take care the veneer doesn't break out; ease the pressure on the knife or use a number of gentle cuts. Try sticking small pieces of tape on the veneer surface as reinforcement.

For the second stage, tape strips of the two veneers in an alternating pattern, with sticky or veneer tape along the joins on the face side. Feed this composite veneer into the jig up to the guide stop, using a set-square to check that the strips are exactly at right angles to the guide. Using the ruler as before, cut a series of strips parallel to the guide edge, rejecting the first one as waste. The strips of squares can now be taped together, displacing them alternatively to the left and right for the pattern you want (fig. 1).

This is the basic strip method technique. By varying the angle of the second cut (60° and 45° on set squares) and other modifications, we will show you some examples of this later on in this series.

When you've done these initial exercises you'll have worked out that there are three main variables:

a/ the number of different veneers used

b/ the angle of the second cut

c/ the width of strip used.

By shuffling the combinations you'll get a vast range of different effects.

Once you've practised this method and recognise its potential you might want to construct patterns which can't be built up from simple strips.

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© Original idea Les Reed