Fire shading

By the term fire shading we mean a burn in the veneer that allows the joiner to achieve a kind of depth effect.
The veneer is pressed into hot sand until it chars slightly at the edge. Because the veneer is only partially heated in the sand, the burn area has a soft gradient. It looks like a shadow.
The woods worked in this way are now laid together to form an overall picture (marquetry) or inserted into a solid piece (inlay).

For fire shading, the very light and weak-grained maple wood was mostly used. This technique is particularly common on antique furniture from the Baroque and Louis XVI eras.