I purchased "Woodworker's Guide to Veneering & Inlay", "Marquetry Course" and "The Fine Art of Marquetry: Creating Images in Wood Using Sawn Veneers" together at the same time. All three are quite beautiful in terms of photography and packed with very useful, detailed knowledge. I started out reading "Woodworker's Guide to Veneering & Inlay" first. It contains a great deal of information about the creation of veneer and inlay materials. This was an excellent lead in to the "Marquetry Course". This book discusses a number of projects in increasing complexity. I then read "The Fine Art of Marquetry: Creating Images in Wood Using Sawn Veneers". I found this book to be quite detailed both in direction and step-by-step photographs. If you cannot create the basic project as outlined in this book you should not blame the book. Taking nothing away from the other two books, if you can only purchase one, I would start with "The Fine Art of Marquetry: Creating Images in Wood Using Sawn Veneers". But I highly recommend all three! Read more
I'm only about 1/4 of the way into the book, but so far I've enjoyed the great instruction and illustration on marquetry. Read more
After looking through several books at my nearby woodworking store, I found this book to be one of the best organized, most clearly written, and with a sensible progression through the training skills to make a beautiful piece of work. While I have not yet conducted the work example in the book, it has provided for me the much needed background to go along with local marquetry workshops. I will say that there seem to be several good books on marquetry, but I am very happy with this one as my first book. Read more
The Fine Art of Marquetry is one my two favorite woodworking books--the other being Ian Kirby's The Complete Dovetail. In both cases the author takes a rather difficult skill and breaks it down into manageable chunks for those of us without the advantage of formal training. If you want to learn basic marquetry this is the book to start with. All steps in the process, from tuning your band saw for cutting veneers to shading with hot sand to add depth to your image, are logically presented and clearly photographed. The book culminates in two lovely marquetry exercises, the more advanced of which is pictured on the cover. There are also step-by-step instructions for building a dead-square box (not as easy as it sounds) and for mixing and applying shellac, if you choose to finish that way. The thumbnails are of items I made after studying the book. Read more
I have several woodworkers in my life, and I surprised one of them with this book for Christmas. I am so thankful that I spent the extra money and got the hardcover edition. It is GORGEOUS! I know nothing about woodworking, but the young man who received this was very impressed with it and motivated to put it to use. I was blown away by the exquisite, one-of-a-kind, sewing basket he made for his beautiful wife for Mother's Day. So, if you know anyone who wants to learn about Marquetry, I highly recommend this book! Read more
I am new to Marquetry but needed to create a small flower as an inlay on a small table. A couple of years ago I had taken a course in hand sawn veneer from Craig and had watched him make a small leaf using marquetry. That small leaf is featured in the first part of the book while making the lotus flower shown on the book cover is described in detail in the last half. It took me a couple of tries to make an acceptable lotus flower but I now feel quite comfortable with the process. The book provides a ton of illustrated detail, walking you through every step of cutting and shading every piece. I also own a couple of videos on marquetry and the book is a much more useful learning aid. Read more
This book is not worth $35.... Basic information. You can find more in depth instruction online. I don't understand why so many positive reviews.... Any book worth that much money, must have More projects and many ways to do Marquetry. Read more
Provides extremely detailed instructions on how to do marquetry by double bevel method. At times the level of detail gets to be a bit much, but that is better than insufficient detail. I took off a star because it covers only two different projects, the first being very simple. After the first two highly detailed projects, it should provide some further ones at a lower level of detail. Read more
