Harlequin Parquetry Entertainment Cabinet

Beautiful. Thanks for sharing

LOVE it.

In execution, I presume you laid up strips of the diamond shapes and then laid the strips next to eachother to keep the corners registered as cleanly as possible?

Were there any other considerations for keeping the detail crisp?

Matt, I have done the strip method on chess boards before (see my Chess Table project) and it works very well. On this one I had a local laser cutter cut the diamonds. In retrospect I would probably not do that again as the laser burnt the edges of the maple diamonds more than I expected and the diamonds changed size/shape slightly before I got them taped together making for difficult assembly. None of that is visible in the finished piece but it made building it more nerve racking.
Craig

Thanks for the revealing insight. I've never done any work with laser cutters, but have a few of the 'giveaways' that the retailers hand out at the various WW'ing shows. So I've seen that toasty edge and understand what you mean.

Any insight into why they might have changed in dimension? That sounds very strange to me, unless the heat of the laser changed the MC of the pieces and they shrunk up ever so slightly.

It's a good piece of insight to keep in mind for the future. Thanks!

But anyway, thanks for sharing yet another incredible piece!

Matt, check out the work of Gregg Novosad www.clickdivine.com, most of his work is laser cut and he has a bunch of really nice projects posted here and on his website. I think the burning can be reduced by using different power settings on the laser and my guys just may not have been watching close enough. The shape change probably came from the change in temp and humidity from the laser cutters shop down by the beach and mine where it is hotter and less humid. Veneer is wood after all and does move. Even a little movement mattered on a design like this where there are so many points to line up and a misalignment is very obvious. Thanks for the compliments.
Craig

Craig:
Very nice cabinet.Design and details are world class!

Cool diamonds, sort of harlequin in style. Nice work.