At the homeowner's specific request, I agreed to do a woodworking project made of hard maple: A ruler rack used for holding and organizing various sized quilting rulers and cutting mats. Part of my responsibility included picking out the wood at Owl Lumber. I love looking at the wood there!
The uprights were resawn from a single apparently clear piece of wood, but a treasure revealed itself as I pulled some of the pieces through the bandsaw....
A mineral streak from an old knothole ran almost the length of the pieces. I then had a tough decision to make: Do I put it in the front row where it would be more likely seen but "broken up" by the slots, or do I put it in the back row where its beauty would remain uninterrupted? I went with the back - look at that figure!
The customer, who has Bachelor's degree in Forestry (with honors!) and who also appreciates the natural character found in wood grain, opted to apply the topcoat, tung oil.
The top and bottom were not resawn, but they were cut from the same piece, which had its own special kind of figure: Bird's eye!
The top piece had a lighter mineral stain in addition to the bird's eye...and what a nice finish!
Here's the rack in use.