re: Ten days of cutting, but the end motifs are done.

OK one at a time.
The small pieces of precious (read expensive) veneer are cut into the basswood which serves to fill out the layer so that there isn’t a bump where the pieces are.
By face to face I mean that the glue sides are facing each other and the paper reinforced sides are on the outsides. It allows me to cut mirror images with the glue sides un-papered. If you look at the assemblies in the storage tray, they are not mirror images but one side shows paper. In the actual assemblies both are un-papered and are mirror images.
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In Boulle style and PIW style packets I use a layer of 1/8" plywood top and bottom.
I never use reverse tooth blades
I use 160 mm 2/0 blades from Germany. The ones I use most are about 30 tpi. I also have some that are 160mm x about 60 tpi. The standard blades available here are all 130 mm. The longer stroke is a great advantage on the chevalet.
I used about three dozen blades on this motif. The Ebony and Bloodwood are particularly hard on them but the Araracanga is pretty hard too.
Never worry about asking questions.

:-)