Jewelry Box & Truth about Veneers

First let's me start by stating that veneers are real wood. Period. Yes, there are fabricated imitations(melamine, laminate etc.) but, they are not called veneers and many are very noticeable even with an untrained eye.

Contrary to popular belief, veneered jewelry boxes, jewelry armoires, furniture and other items are not a so called "cheap" way to create a beautiful item but, more a chance for everyone to own a piece of beautiful woodwork without breaking the bank. Most people do not truly understand what veneers are and right away dismiss anything with a veneer as cheap and fake. What a shame. Nodding in agreement?.

Wood veneer is nature's ultimate expression of it's beauty and diversity and with the most beautiful of woods, veneers are created. Rarely will you find a solid exotic wood item over a few inches tall and usually it will be a bowl that can highlight the wood favorably inside and out. A solid piece of a Fiddleback Maple wood for example, in a size needed to create any item would be way out of most people's price range but, most importantly, it would be a waste of the wood. Veneers ensure that the rare and unique wood that nature has given us are used in a way that maximizes their unsurpassed beauty. No other natural product can give us such an added value in it's uses. 

This is no more true than with a jewelry box. The inside is lined and only the beauty of wood is seen on the exterior. This is not to say that what's beneath is not important. On the contrary, most jewelry boxes furniture start with a solid hardwood base to give the veneer a strong structure to be add to. Now add a beautiful Burl wood or exotic veneer and it can take the simplest of jewelry boxes and make it a stunning eye stopping masterpiece that takes your breathe away. I've seen quite a few that can do this and still do.

Did you know....
Veneering is an ancient art, dating all the way back to the ancient Indian tribes who used veneers on their furniture. It is used to give furniture or most noticeably jewelry boxes an exotic wood grain appearance and when it is applied properly, it also gives a item the appearance that is a solid piece of that wood, not a veneer over top another wood. This is where true craftsmanship shows through. There are many pieces of furniture, jewelry boxes and even flooring that highlight this talented work.

Plywood is a veneer. Egyptians are considered the inventors of plywood which consists of extremely thin sheets of wood veneer less than 3 mm thick that are glued together.

The exotic appearance of grain in a veneer comes from slicing down through a tree's growth rings and can be emphasized or diminished just by the angle at which the wood is sliced. Veneer is most commonly made of cherry, oak, maple and birch but, also some rare and exotic woods such as Rosewood and Bubinga. Bird's Eye, Bubinga and Fiddleback are very popular veneers for jewelry boxes along with Burl wood of any sort. To learn more on specific woods used for veneers and wooden jewelry boxes, read our article on "Jewelry Boxes --Wood Basics and Beyond" (coming soon).

I hope that in sharing this bit of knowledge of Wood Veneers that you will look a bit differently at the next beautiful piece of furniture or jewelry box you see and not think..."Oh it's just veneers" but, now view it through an unjade eye and see it for the beauty that it is. Nothing more, nothing less.....Just beautiful.

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