The walnut has lots of grain reversals and a few knots that add to its
character. I preserved a little edge of the sapwood for contrast. The
dovetails were the first I had cut by hand in hard maple (most of my
previous work was in pine or poplar, with the occasional foray into exotics
or mesquite), and while it was a lot more work chopping out the waste, the
end result was a lot more satisfying.
That *thwock* sound you get when you send that chunk of waste flying across
the room, the crisp edges at the joints, the fact that the wood under the
baseline doesn't crumble and tear, and finally the feel and the sound of
finally tapping the joints home.
There was no glue used to join this carcase. No need for it ... hell,
there wasn't any *room* for it. :-)
The drawer-pulls are made from the same maple. If they look slightly
deformed, it's because they are. I originally cut them much too large, and
they looked like oversized probosci ... er, noses sticking out from the
drawers. So I performed a little rhinoplasty on them, and now I can't
decide how I want to reshape the pulls. I'll probably take a rasp and
taper them a bit and create a depression to fit my fingers.
The finish is superblonde shellac.