Spalted Maple Valet

I found this 5/4 8" board at Farnsworth Lumber a couple months back. They threw it in the solar kiln for me and got it pretty dry so I started using it to make this valet last week. It's a continuous grain box with a drawer below (still working on that). The top is separated so there's a place for a phone.

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JqHCytSQ2...0/IMG_0024.JPG

I was pretty happy with it when I was dry fitting it, but after glue up some slight gaps in the dovetails appeared and it went out of square by about 1/32". Not a huge deal but just annoying. Any sage advice for preventing these sort of problems? The dovetails were super tight before glue.

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EXX2mNYC0...0/IMG_0025.JPG

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n2FcZBlTW...0/IMG_0026.JPG

Beautiful piece, Dave. When it comes to joinery, it seems a bit Murphy’s law to me. I would have thought the glue would swell the joint and make it tighter...not more gaps. The only thing I can think of is that it racked slightly (as you indicated) and caused some open gaps in the dovetails (?). It’s such a nice piece of wood, after it’s finished I doubt anyone will be noticing the joints. By the way, what’s the overall dimensions?

I could be wrong but I'm sure that wood is Ambrosia Maple ... not spalted...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Barry McFadden

I could be wrong but I'm sure that wood is Ambrosia Maple ... not spalted...

---

You are correct. Ambrosia Maple.

OP, very nice work!!!

Nice colorful valet.

Folks around here call that Ambrosia maple and, for some reason, it sells for high dollar.

Very nice! They call it wormy maple here and it’s cheap. About $3lbft. I made a headboard out of some. Nice to work with.

Thanks guys, been awhile. I finished this up back in June as it was a birthday gift for the BiL.

@Phil, I don't have it on me any longer but looking at it was pretty close to 12"x7.5"x4.5".

I've called it Ambrosia or Spalted, this one had a little bit of both in it so I went with spalted as it's easier to spell. :D

Finished pics below:

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bP1okik9N...0/IMG_0034.JPG

The drawer dividers were friction fit. I was initially planning on adding a hidden compartment above the drawer and below the top, but there's and alignment issue with my dovetail jig and I lost too much height because of it. All the more reason to try hand-cut dovetails I guess.

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oW4IFKD14...0/IMG_0035.JPG

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/--mxnRDke6...0/IMG_0036.JPG