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Running with Chisels Vol. 20

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Vol 20 | July 11, 2025

In this issue Dave has an update on classes outside of Charlottesville, demonstrates cutting a series of small dots into a double bevel piece, reviews furniture from a recent trip to England, and lays out the complete list of tools he uses for marquetry, with links.

My apologies for the extended time since the last newsletter. Things have been a tad busy and I wanted to update my list of tools that I use of marquetry.  So, this is a double newsletter – what I had planned for issue 20 plus the tools list. I produced a core list a couple of year as ago but I’ve realized that the list was specific to double bevel marquetry, and I blend techniques while doing my own work, and I use the tool that best suits.  

Class Update

Let’s talk about classes a bit. Thanks to everyone who has taken or signed up for a class this year – this is my best year (so far) for numbers of students and for the different classes folks have signed up for.

Double Bevel marquetry is more complex than the other techniques so I‘ve mostly taught it as a second level class. I taught a three-day introductory Double Bevel Marquetry at Goggleworks in Reading PA – the usual class is 2 days.  It went well, so I plan to offer it again as an alternative for people not interested in Painting with Wood (packet cutting). 

I will be offering both the Painting with Wood and the three-day Double Bevel intro class at The Ted Harlan Woodworking School  in Louisville KY Aug 22-23, and 24-26 respectively.

I am also planning on offering a Painting with Wood class at Goggleworks in Reading PA on Sept 19-21. It will also be a three day class, so we will be doing a more complex pattern after our introductory iris. As always, you’ll get the link to sign-up first!

In this edition of Running with Chisels:

  • Ask Dave: How to cut small dots in marquetry
  • Learn from the best: Furniture from England, Part 1
  • Toolkit: The complete exhaustive list of tools (with links!)

Ask Dave: How do I cut small dots using double bevel marquetry?

Sometimes a piece requires one or many very tiny dots for emphasis, such as the Double Bevel II Angelfish, across the bridge of its nose. 

This particular example is to capture the small white dots in the black edges of a monarch butterfly wing. Below is a pictorial step by step approach to creating very small dots using double bevel marquetry.

In picture 1, there are five dots drawn on the black veneer, with holly underneath. Cut from the right side, slaloming between the dots, as in picture 2. The result is in picture 3. 

Then draw the right side of the dots onto the holly, with black veneer underneath and preserving the grain alignment. Slalom cut the other way to define the right sides of the dots and cut into the black so that there is no holly left except for the dots, picture 5. Picture 6 is a closeup of the result. The seam is faintly visible. The glue will fill the slight gaps. From 6” the black looks solid. Done. 

Learning from the Best: Antique Marquetry Furniture from England

We have just returned from a trip to England. Though not a marquetry hub, there were plenty of folks here who did it at a high level, and less ornately than the continental norm. We went into an antique store and I saw why craftspeople in Europe don’t make traditional decorated furniture. It was everywhere, mostly good 19th C reproductions of earlier styles. There were three quality examples in the first shop I surveyed, all priced at a fraction of what it would cost to make new. Therefore craftsmen make modern furniture, or repair the old stuff.

Arundel Castle: Home of the Dukes of Norfolk

This is the main country home of one of the oldest and wealthiest aristocratic families in Britain. The furniture was impressive. Much was purchased in the 1870’s when the updated castle was built and furnished. The money for the new castle and massive church was from the sale of Sheffield, which the family had owned for centuries. Who knew that a single person could own a whole area? He sold it to the townspeople. 

Here are a couple of pictures of pieces in a variety of styles. I have lots more if you are interested, just shoot me an email.  

17th C Italian. Ivory, rosewood and others. The five balls in the center of the table indicates it was made for the Medici’s.
This 18th C French? Piece was in a corner in the dark. The iphone camera did an amazing job to capture this. I love this piece and could see making it. The details appear painted on. There were several painted “marquetry” pieces.
18th c French. Another extraordinary piece. Packet cut, and a second piece had the colors reversed on the flowers and scrollwork.
Detail of right drawer front of 18th c French cabinet
Early 18th C, not sure where from. This is literally in a spare corner, behind a modern chair.
Detail – note the oyster shell patterns in the spaces around the flowers. The green is dyed bone or possibly ivory.

In the next newsletter I will include some pictures from the Victoria and Albert, the Wallace Collection, and the British Museum, all in London and among the best furniture museums I’ve been to.  If you’re going to London, you’re in for a treat!

Toolkit – The complete list of tools I use to make Marquetry

Those of you who have been with us for a little while know that I have a document called Key Tools for the Marquetarian, with more explanation and detail of these tools. However this is the exhaustive list (with links, some of which are affiliate and may earn me a small commission should you purchase through them.)

Veneer

Making Drawings & Layout Tools

Cutting Tools

Glue Up

Tape

Cleanup

  • Painters points
  • Plastic razorblade and scraper. I got mine at Lee Valley, who don’t sell them any more. Amazon has some but in packs of 200!
  • 3M gray scrubbie
  • Beeswax . I get this as a local product – check farmers’ markets or search for beekeeping organizations near you.

Sand Shading

Veneer Softening

You can read about my process here.

Miscellaneous

As of time of publication, these links all worked, but please let me know if they no longer do! Questions about a tool on this list? Shoot me an email, and I am happy to help. #saynotonakedfurniture !

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