Veneer descriptions page 10

Veneers, their descriptions and uses in marquetry by Roy Murton

We are now up to page 10 with these veneer descriptions. In this twelve examples we take a look at the Padauk family of veneers. With veneers of this type I would like to draw your attention to our health and safety pages - and especially the "salutary tale" of the tribulations encountered by the wood turner mentioned in the story.
A fair few of the veneers mentioned in this clutch are once again of the rare varieties and may not be available from your usual stockists. Some of the veneers we describe have not been commercially available for more than twenty years, but, if lady luck is with you, you may be able to "lay your hands" on a small cache of those rare items. If that is ever the case, then don't lose the chance of acquiring them if "the price is right".
This page now brings us from numbers 109 up to 120. Don't forget that you can view scans of the actual veneers in our veneer pictorial galleries. As I've said before, just click on the thumbnails to see the veneers full sized.
Well, let's kick this session off with 'Olive - East African' - so, chocks away!:

109/. OLIVE - EAST AFRICAN: Olea Hochstetteri. This East African veneer also goes by the name of Musheragi. It is a deep golden brown colour with darker, almost grey, wide stripes. It could be used for an effective overcast evening sky effect.

110/. OLON: Fagara Spp. A West African veneer that is actually African Satinwood. It has a regular yellow golden colour across it's surface. It exhibits a clean grain pattern that would fit the task of depicting a field of golden corn.

111/. OPEPE: Sarcocephalus Diderichii. West Africa. It is also known as Kussia, bilinga, akondoc, aloma. Its colour is orange to oranges brown. This interlocked wavy grained veneer often has a pronounced rope striped figure. It is coarse textured and hard but cuts without difficulty. This is a most colourful veneer and is ideal for cornfields, thatch, portraiture work and animal subjects, and in all wooden subjects for fencing, planks, walls, doors, etc. It is also very useful in floral subjects and for costume and drapery.

112/. OSAGE ORANGE: Maclura Pomifera. Maclure Aurantiaca. North American Orange Wood. It says in my notes that it is also called "Bois D'arc" - but I'm afraid that I can't find any further references to this wood other than that. It is an orange and chocolate colour with a smooth grain pattern. It could be used for some nice drapery effects.

113/. OVANGKOL: Guibortia Ehie. Another of West Africa's veneers. It has a good bronze colouring with some really superb wavy fiddleback effects. It would look excellent for some wonderful rippled water effects.

114/. PADAUK AFRICAN: Pterocarpus Soyauxii. Yet another of West Africa's superb veneers. This has a very useful blood red colouring. This veneer is used mainly for it's vivid colouring. Take care of it's sanding dust - wear a dust mask when sanding this type of veneer as it's fine dust can have toxic effects.

115/. PADAUK ANDAMANS: Pterocarpus Dalbergiodes. Obviously as it's name implies, this veneer comes from the Andaman Islands. As with the African Padauk the veneer description is identical. Take care when sanding this veneer to avoid the fine dust.

116/. PALDAO: Dracontomelum Dao. A veneer from the Philppines. It has brown stripes on a light tan coloured background. It is from the Walnut family and is also known as Pacific Walnut. Mottled with a pleasant sheen.

117/. PARINARI: Parinari Spp. DakBellow. Merbatu. This veneer comes from East Africa. It is a beige/orange coloured veneer. that cuts cleanly. It looks rather like a darker version of Balsa wood.

118/. PAU FERRO: Caesalpina Spp. Also known as Brazil Ironwood this veneer comes from Central America. It is a chocolate coloured veneer with a strong grain pattern. It could make interesting animal fur effects.

119/. PAU ROSA: Swartzia Fistuloides. Another of West Africa's veneers that is also known as African Tulipwood. It is reddish brown in colouring tending toward a purple hue. A striped veneer with sometimes, yellow flecked additions.

120/. PEAR: Pyrus Communis. One of Europe's veneers. Sometimes called Pink Pear in order to distinguish it from the more yellow type of Swiss pear. This is an easy veneer to work and comes in handy for portraiture flesh tones, especially for the parts of a face in shadow. It has no marked grain effects, although sometimes has a slight mottled figure. Can be useful for floral marquetry and costume effects.
Please Note: Peter White of the Marquetry Society has kindly made available a piece of "Freak Pearwood" for display in our veneer gallery - click the link below to see this interesting veneer.

Well there we are, another twelve veneers "bites the dust". There has been a fair sprinkling of the exotic veneers in this batch - and as I said before, you will probably find that some of these are not available commercially any more - so if you do happen across any of them, do add them to your own veneer bank if you can.
Our next twelve veneers will start with number 121 which will be "Pear Pink".
So, until then, enjoy your marquetry - and if you are using these descriptions for selecting your veneers for your pictures, why not take a photo of your picture and send it in to us (as a JPEG attachment) in an e-mail at the address you will find on our "Contact Us" page (there's a link below) - and if I can twist the arms of our editorial team, we may even display it on this site!

Cheers, Roy.

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