Ambrosia veneers...

The exterior side panels and door fronts of each of the cabinets will be of ambrosia maple although the top and bottom panels of each cabinet will continue to follow the soft maple theme. I have chosen ambrosia maple because it is a wood I have worked very little with in the past and am intrigued by the subtle variations in color throughout the boards. The grain graphics can be summarized in one word...wild. In one of these particular planks I am using to create veneers there are also traces of a pink colour throughout, the traces take the form of swirling areas which run the length of the planks. It is this particular color which caught my eye, and these planks beg to be used on a cabinet. I have paired the boards into two sets, one set for each of the cabinets.

Each set has slightly different characteristics. The second set of cut boards exhibit a darker chocolate colored swirling area which when set against the lighter background provides dramatic effect. Another unusual characteristic of each of the boards sets is that they exhibit curl, and tight curl at that. I usually look for either interesting figure or curl in planks, but these boards exhibit both characteristics together.

To the left are the resawn sets of veneers, one set per cabinet. I make sure to keep the sets separate from each other and mark them as much as I can to identify them once I begin creating the veneered panels. These particular planks from which I resaw these veneers are very wide and this allows me to use the veneers as a whole instead of gluing two halves together as I did with the soft maple veneers. Slicing these veneers was somewhat of a challenge for my bandsaw, but I took my time. I also sliced them a little thicker than normal to accommodate any blade wander which might occur.

At this stage, I am very pleased with how these veneers have turned out.