CHEVALET DE MARQUETERIE
Chevalet Kits Now Available:
Make your own “chevalet” with a complete set of full scale blueprints and all the hardware necessary to complete the project. All you supply is the wood and labor. Make a check out to “A.S.F.M” for $500 and include $50 for a wood shipping and FedEx charge to cover shipping.

Total price is $550 for complete kit delivered anywhere in the U.S.
American School of French Marquetry
3815 Utah Street
San Diego, California 92104
Phone: 619-298-0864/Fax 619 297-0500
The "chevalet de marqueterie" allows for extremely precise and delicate cutting. The carriage which guides the hand operated saw frame keeps the blade perpendicular. The lines of the design are about a tenth of a millimeter wide, and, if your eyes are good enough, you can saw away the "outside" half of the line. Thus, by sawing away the "outside" half of the line for all the "inside" pieces of the design, you can then saw away the "inside" half of the line for the "outside" (background). This method eliminates the saw kerf completely, using perpendicular cutting, and allows from 8 to 12 copies to be produced at one time.
The chevalet is a tool which has always been unique to the Paris workshops, and is still used at ecole Boulle to teach the French method. There are several advantages to this tool. You can sit in comfort and work longer. The simple foot action keeps the clamps snug on the veneer packet. The saw slides easily on a carriage and cuts on the push stroke with the teeth pointing down, and since the packet is directly in front of the worker's face, it is easy to follow the line.
There are a total of six chevalets at the ASFM, with slight differences in size to fit most students. Several of the chevalets can be converted to work for left handed students. These tools are usually craftsman made and the plans are available in Dr. Pierre Ramond's book, "Marquetry," which was published by Taunton Press in 1989. A simplified version of this tool was illustrated in American Woodworker, June 1996, page 62-65, in an article written by Patrick Edwards, ASFM instructor.
In addition to the chevalets, students at ASFM will work on projects using the overhead jigsaw. This tool, which is driven by a motor and leather belt, cuts at a variable speed up to 180 strokes per minute. The working throat distance is almost 5 feet, so very large projects can be easily sawn. This tool is used for heavy packets of veneer or metals, and cuts very accurately in all materials.

All students at ASFM are taught using the French method used at ecole Boulle in Paris. The best way to learn how to make marquetry is to practice simple etudes or study pieces. These exercises, starting with the basics, quickly teach the method, allowing the student to gain confidence and a real understanding of the process.

Stage 1 Class
The new student usually begins with a simple Boulle Technique etude. The simultaneous cutting of both design elements and the background allows for a perfect fit every time. This etude also allows the student to gain some experience with cutting veneers on the "chevalet de marqueterie", a traditional Parisian tool illustrated in Diderot in the 18th century.
Stage 2 Class
The next step is to practice the Classic Method, or "piece-by-piece". By making many copies of the design, and cutting all of the design elements individually from prepared veneer packets, as many as 8 to 12 copies of the marquetry can be cut at once. The background is then prepared in a packet and cut to match the design. All of the individual elements can be "burned" slightly in hot sand to produce dramatic artistic shadows and make the effect more realistic.
One of the early etudes illustrates the trick of the "exploding" flowers. It was developed early in the 18th century as a way of cutting a single flower out of the same piece of veneer, without any visible saw kerf lines. Essentially, the paper pattern is cut and expanded on the surface of the veneer just enough to allow for the total area removed by all of the combined saw kerfs.
Another type of marquetry is more geometrical and cut with a veneer saw or knife and straightedge. This is called "cube frisage" and is produced with three different colors of veneer, placed in a pattern which gives a three dimensional effect. Large sheets of this type of frisage can be made rather easily, and there are many variations of the pattern possible.
The workbenches at ASFM are set up to provide a variety of working areas for each student. There is room for preparing the designs and veneer packets, burning the veneer with hot sand, working with the gluepots, assembling the pictures and polishing the finished marquetry panels.
This is the assembly area, with the veneer pieces kept in a parts tray, and the final picture ready to glue down. There are several projects on the bench which are typical of the kind of etudes students can make after completing both the initial classes in the Boulle Technique and the Classic Method.