Hello.

I absolutely love ambrosia maple and bought a big board to play with.
I have been working on a serving tray off and on for a couple months now.
I came up with an idea to use thin strips of various contrasting species of wood to make the sides.

Being rather new to woodworking, I wanted to expand my joinery skills and decided to use box joints.
I don't have a good table saw, so did it by offsetting the ends of the wood on the sides and cutting the walnut handles with my chisel. I really like to work with chisels.
I was rather proud of my joints so I left them proud.

I added dowels because I like the look and I think it will add strength if it needs more. It was more of an artistic/aesthetic decision.
I really like the way they look protruding out a little bit. What do you guys honestly think of the dowels?

I finished it with Danish Oil, but I think I'll add some poly to the main board to protect it a little more.

What do you think? IMG_7478.jpgIMG_7483.jpgIMG_7482.jpgIMG_7484.jpgIMG_7473.jpgIMG_7479.jpgIMG_7481.jpg