Padouk wood shows quite a dramatic change between its super-red heartwood and its yellow-creamish sapwood. I had a 8 x 4″x 8′ leftover with a lot of sapwood,unusable for outdoor construction, so I put it to use in a small, demonstrative, 6 x 4x 3″ jewel box for a hard-to-please teener.

For the lid, I used some wild cherry (“merisier”) bark, which I first steam-ironed and flattened between two sheets of plywood, and then veneered on the encased padouk top.

So, now the box shows the three elements of a tree ‘all-in-one’ – heartwoord, sapwood and bark.

Finishing is done with blond dewaxed shellac and 3 layers of wax. 

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