Veneer descriptions page 6

Veneers, their descriptions and uses in marquetry by Roy Murton

We are now on our 6th page of veneer descriptions. This page will list veneers from J to L (numbers 61 - 72 in our listings). Once again I will be making some use of Bill Lincoln's superb descriptions of veneers that were available in the 1950's but which are virtually unobtainable these days. Bill's descriptions, as I previously said, were written in the 1950's, so they were contemporary with the veneers available at that time.

Okay, on with the next twelve veneers:

61/. JARRAH: Eucalyptus Marginata. Originates from Western Australia. This is a reasonably fine grained orange / brown coloured veneer. It has a slightly wide striped effect. It could be used to depict buildings.

62/. JELUTONG: Dyera Spp. This veneer comes from Malaya. It has a deep yellow colour tending almost towards a straw hue. It shows a nice linear colouring across it's surface. Somewhat similar in appearance to Balsa.

63/. KEVASINGO: Copafeira Spp. Brachystegia Spp. This is actually rotary cut Bubinga. It originates from West Africa. It has a strong red chocolate colour with some very pleasant figuring. Could be well used for foliage effects.

64/. KHAYA: Khaya Spp. A West African veneer also known as African Mahogany. It is a golden / orange with pronounced dark graining. It varies from deep to light gold in a smooth graduated manner.

65/. KINGWOOD: Dalbergia Cearensis. This veneer which originates from Brazil is also known as Violette. It has a mauve / brown colour that merges to an almost black colour. Very useful for cross banding.

66/. KOTO: Pterygota Bequaertii. Kefe. Awari. Nigeria. It has a light golden / biscuit colour. It is fine grained, rather similar to Obeche.

67/. LABURNUM: Laburnum Vulgare. A European veneer. You will find this veneer has a golden / green colouring with some prominent figuring. It could be used to make some interesting sky or water effects.

68/. LACEWOOD: Platanus Acerifolia. (Quarter sawn Planetree) Another European veneer. This is an orange pink, fairly hard veneer. It is quarter cut London plane tree, with pronounced medullary ray figure, and is an indispensable veneer for every marquetry artist and craftsman. It can be used for pebbled roads, pathways, stonework and rock formations, and also to resemble granite. When chemically treated as a harewood (it is then known as grey lacewood) it is even more effective for stonework.

69/. LARCH: Larix Decidua. And yet another European veneer. This veneer is often described as Golden Larch, this is actually a soft wood and varies from gold to light brown in hue. It is available as crown cut veneer with a wild pronounced heart figure and stripy towards the edges. It has a medium to coarse texture and is rather brittle and crumbly to cut. It is a moderately priced veneer that is widely used for wall panelling. The right piece can make a grand sky, drapery, mid distance fields, foregrounds, sandy foreshores and wooden subjects.

70/. LAUREL: Laurus Nobilis. Prunus Laurocerasus. A further European veneer. Also originates from India and Burma where it's Latin name is Terminalia alata. It has a deep / dark brownish colouring. It is a difficult veneer to cut as it is a rather hard wood. Be very careful with any splinters from this wood as they are very poisonous, also be careful when sanding this veneer and try to avoid breathing in sanding dust, wear a mask when sanding this veneer for your own safety.

71/. LAUREL INDIAN: Terminalia Tomentosa. Obviously originates from India as it's name would suggest. Safety considerations apply as with Laurel above.

72/. LAURO PRETO: Cordia Alliodera & Spp. Canalete. Canela. Cyp or Cypre. A South American veneer. It has a very dark chocolate / brown colouring with a pronounced darker figuring. It could be used to very good effect to depict a thatched roof.

There were another fair few obscure veneers in this pages' listings which you may find difficult to obtain these days, but again, I have included them for your reference purposes. Do make sure you observe the safety warnings associated with the Laurel family of veneers, even the dust occurring from sanding those veneers could cause you health problems, so make sure you wear a mask when working with them. I will add the next twelve veneer descriptions in a future update to this site, until then, please do enjoy your marquetry. Thanks to all of you for kind and friendly comments on my veneer description pages,

thanks, Roy.

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