Cherry Wave 1
A friend asked me if I could make a cutting board with curved stripes instead of my usual straight ones. After a bit of playing around in the shop, I saw that it could be done, but so far, I've made no curvy-striped cutting boards. Instead, I made this:
This box is made of cherry, with a walnut/maple/cherry stripe waving its way around the box. It's finished with boiled linseed oil, although I may decide to add a clear coat finish...probably satin. The wave is a bent wood lamination, so it's visible from the inside as well as the outside. (For that reason, I've decided this box will remain topless.) Also, I'm not completely happy with the proportions on this one, but the next one will have that aspect handled. This one was essentially a test run to work the bugs out.
The legs are walnut, and quite honestly they were an afterthought...an attempt to cover up the fact that the wave line didn't match up as planned on the corners of the box. (That's a whole story in and of itself. I'll spare you the grisly details.) Nonetheless, what started as a patch has become one of my favorite aspects of this box. The legs are attached with glue and 1/8" dowels (microdowels, in my opinion), and I think the dowels help add to the overall look. I added the little 1/4" square pieces to the inside to carry the look of the legs to the inside of the box.
And one more shot from a different angle. I'm still a bit undecided, but I'll probably line the bottom of the box with brown felt. For now, it's just the natural birch color of the 1/4" plywood used for the bottom.
I have worked on a couple more "wave" boxes, but only one of them has been finished. I'm not real happy with the other one, but it will be completed when the right muse strikes.