Opinions for Lid?

[Tim Malyszko]

I am almost done with this blanket chest project. The drawers will be finished up this weekend, which only leaves the cedar lining, the lid and of course finishing.

I am trying to decide what to use for the lid. I was originally going to use some ambrosia maple I had (see pictures), but now I'm thinking of using curly maple. The problem is I cannot find and highly figured 4/4 curly maple locally, which is why I was going to use the ambrosia maple.

What do you guys think? Will the ambrosia maple look okay, or should I switch to something with more figure? If not maple, do you have any other suggestions?

Also, does anyone have a good source of curly maple in the St. Louis area?

Thanks in advance.

[Ralph Okonieski]

Tim,

What are the woods in your chest up to this point? I was planning to build a chest with two different types and like the combination you have. I was thinking oak for the frame and walnut for the panels for mine.

[Joe Chritz]

The curly would look very good indeed but so would the Ambrosia. Depends on how "stunning" you want the final to look.

Nice saw, looks familiar.

Joe

[Tim Malyszko]

Tim,

What are the woods in your chest up to this point? I was planning to build a chest with two different types and like the combination you have. I was thinking oak for the frame and walnut for the panels for mine.

I used soft maple and cherry. I am looking forward to finishing it because the contrast is quite stunning when I wet the woods.

I also included a couple more pictures to show off the base I built for it.

[Al Killian]

You might have to order it from the web.Ambrosia, in my opion only looks good on smaller peices. It might be to much on top of a chest. What about a nice peice of cherry?

[Tom Baker]

I agree with Al, Cherry would be my choice, matching the panels.

[Don Bullock]

I agree with Al, Cherry would be my choice, matching the panels.

That would be my choice as well. I really like contrasting woods, but to me, and I could be wrong, a top that is different from the wood you already have would look a little strange. If you want a "figured wood" wood, there are some types of cherry with some figure to them.