Quilted Bubinga Jewelry Box

Like I said I have a weakness for highly figured woods. So my daughter and and I are in the local wood "boutique" and are browsing amongst the expensive tropical woods and I laid my eyes on this stunning piece of wood. Even as a roughly surfaced piece of lumber the color and figure were outstanding. The board was marked "Quilted Sappy Bubinga" and there was a mixture of heart wood and sap wood. I had to buy it, but on the way home I began to wonder if I'd ever be able to handle such a wildly figured piece of wood. I stored it in my wood rack for a few months as thought about what I might make with it and worked up my courage.
This is one three jewelry boxes I made from the single large board. It's about 9" long by 6" wide and 5" high. The secondary wood for the box tray and bottom is Ivorywood (Guatambo). The box has hand cut dovetails and is finished with shellac and wax. The inlay is handcarved ivorywood.

The figure and grain on the top of the box is very intense and deep. Photos and computer images don't do it justice.

The Bubinga turned out to be not all that bad to work with. The power planer, set for very fine cuts, left some small tearout as did the best of my hand planes. I used a mess of hand scrapers to complete smoothing the surface. When I called the sawmill to see if there was any more Bubinga left they said it had all sold out in a few days. I guess I'll have to be on the lookout for more.

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